New flyover to ease traffic in Gulberg, Cantt and Defence

LAHORE: The Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (Tepa) has revived work on the construction of a flyover connecting Mahmood Ali Kasuri Road to Shami Road.

The project, on hold for two years, will cost Rs1 billion.

The flyover is a part of a provincial government plan to convert Lahore into a central business district in the region.

Israr Ahmed, a Tepa official, told The Express Tribune that the plan included infrastructure development on Jail Road, Main Boulevard of Gulberg, MM Alam Road, a segment of Hali Road and Sharae Noor Jehan in Gulberg  in order to create investment opportunities, attract businesses and generate jobs in the city. He said that work on the first phase of the plan was already underway in the form of a Park and Ride plaza in Liberty.

The official said that the construction of the flyover will ease traffic flow in Cantonment, Defence and Gulberg and provide an alternative route to the Airport.

The flyover will start from near Hussain Chowk on Mahmood Ali Kasuri Road and will end near Hamdani chowk on Shami Road. It would link Liberty Roundabout to the Airport Road at Bhatta Chowk and to the Khaira Distributary on the Lahore Ring Road.

Another Tepa official said that the flyover would reduce the load of traffic on the Jinnah Flyover. “It will ease the flow of traffic on Qarshi Lane, from Centre Point to Firdous Market, and the Cavalry Ground area leading to Defence Chowk on Walton Road,” he said.

He said Tepa was assigned the task of preparing the PC-1for the flyover project in 2008. He said that construction was to be started in April 2009 and expected to be completed by December 2009.

Now that the project has been incorporated in the new plan, he said, Tepa will allocate its cost in the coming budget by the end of the current month.

The official said as most of the Airport traffic used The Mall, the construction of the flyover, by providing an alternative route, will decrease the load on The Mall.

He said that commuters from and to the Cantonment and Defence areas will have to suffer some inconvenience for the period of construction, “They will be diverted to alternate routes,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2010.