Design flaw: Faulty Jinnah Avenue interchange creates traffic mess

CDA is planning to construct two flyovers at a cost of Rs700 million to help solve the existing traffic issues.

ISLAMABAD:

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will have to construct two more flyovers on Faisal Avenue to address the engineering flaws in the already-constructed Jinnah-Faisal Avenue Interchange. This will cost the cash-strapped authority Rs700 million.

A CDA official said the design for the project will be finalised “soon” and has been tabled before the CDA Board for approval.

The authority spent Rs1 billion on the Jinnah-Faisal Avenue interchange in 2009. The project comprised an underpass and a flyover to help with the traffic flow to and from the Blue Area. The CDA repeatedly ignored warnings from various circles about the design flaws in the underpass that would cause traffic congestion at the intersection.

The design did not cater to the traffic from the two service roads in the Blue Area: Fazl-e-Haq Road and Nazimuddin Road. The authority dualised both service roads to help with the traffic, but the interchange broke the link between the two roads, causing traffic congestion.

The civic body also failed to realise that there are two major hospitals that are accessed through the Fazl-e-Haq Road: the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polyclinic Hospital. Ambulances of the two hospitals have had to adopt alternative routes following the interchange’s construction, which has affected their response time.



The contractor too had proposed amendments in the design, said a CDA official. The contractor had proposed that two overhead bridges be constructed to link the two service roads, otherwise the motorists will have to cover long distance to reach the other side, said the CDA official. The recommendation was ignored.

Soon after the interchange was completed, the CDA had to install traffic signals on the Jinnah Avenue to address the traffic congestion on the intersection, killing the very purpose of the project.

The two new flyovers, said a CDA official, will link the two service roads to the Jinnah Avenue, helping address the traffic congestion.

However, making the two flyovers now will inflate the cost to almost double. “Had these overhead bridges been constructed simultaneously with the interchange, it would have cost not more than Rs400 million with minor modification in the design,” said an official. Now the authority will have shell out Rs700 million, a herculean task given how often it finds itself without means to pay even salaries or utility bills.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2012.