City planning: Traffic issues persist at Kalma Chowk

Vehicles turning at chowk face long waiting times, diversions.

LAHORE:

Despite the new flyover, long waiting times persist for some traffic at Kalma Chowk.

For vehicles travelling straight down Ferozepur Road, the flyover cuts travel times across the busy intersection. But for traffic turning towards New Garden Town or Gulberg, congestion is still a problem.

A traffic police official said that the problem was caused by poor design and planning of traffic junctions. A Communication and Works official said that the problem was poor management and the blocking of the traffic signal in the service lane for vehicles headed towards Model Town and New Garden Town.

When the barricades are up, vehicles coming from Gaddafi Stadium and wanting to turn right at the chowk must get into the service lane before the start of the flyover, turn left onto Main Boulevard, then make a u-turn at the Centre Point junction back towards Kalma Chowk before going straight to New Garden Town, adding around 500 metres to their journey.

Sadar Traffic Superintendent of Police (SP) Asif Zafar Cheema said that the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) had set up signals at the service lanes, but it could still get very congested. He said that the barricades were placed at the service lane during peak traffic hours to set up the diversion.

The diversion puts an extra burden on Main Boulevard, he said, particularly where vehicles from the service lane merge with traffic heading towards Liberty from New Garden Town, and at the Centre Point u-turn where the diverted vehicles meet traffic headed from Liberty to New Garden Town. “It greatly slows down all traffic,” he said. “These junctions need to be reviewed.”

Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency Director (Planning) Khalid Mehmood Alvi said that the Communication and Works Department together with their consultants the National Engineering Services of Pakistan was responsible for the traffic problem at Kalma Chowk.

Sabir Khan Sadozai, the project director for the Kalma Chowk flyover and who is currently in charge of the Muslim Town flyover, said that if wardens were placed at the square beneath the flyover and the traffic signals kept running, there would be smoother traffic movement.

“They did a one-day trial around six weeks ago when the signals were set up, opening the signal for about 20 seconds for Ferozepur Road traffic. It was quite successful,” he said.

However, he said, traffic police would place barricades at the service lane during peak hours and vehicles were forced onto the alternate route. “If handled properly, traffic will run smoothly without any barricades.”

He said that plans to build an underpass at Kalma Chowk linking New Garden Town and Gulberg, originally mooted to be built at the same time as the flyover, had been shelved as it was not really needed.

“It will be required in about three years but not right now,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2012.