LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has started preparing proposals to maintain the flow of traffic on The Mall, which is the busiest road in the provincial capital, Profit learnt on Wednesday.
As prominent markets like the Hall Road market, Neela Gumbad bicycle market, Anarkali bazaar, Baden Road market and many important government offices and courts are located on The Mall, it is becoming increasing difficult for the traffic police and other government departments to manage the flow of traffic, particularly on weekdays.
Sources said the LDA has been tasked by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to work on proposals to improve traffic flow on the Mall Road. In this regard, the LDA started to work on two proposals: i) a two-way underpass at all ‘chowks’ on the road and ii) an underground tunnel from Mian Mir Bridge till Neela Gumbad Chowk, with exit points on various chowks. The depth of the tunnel would be 40 to 50 feet.
A joint study has also been started by LDA and the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) for further planning in this regard, sources said.
In the next few days, Lahore Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghuman will be briefed on the proposal based on NESPAK’s study, after which the same would be shared with the CM.
Talking to this scribe, LDA Spokesperson Sohail Janjua confirmed that paperwork on the tunnel construction project had been started by the engineering department.
However, he maintained that the proposal has not been discussed so far with NESPAK, LDA DG or Lahore commissioner.
Why can’t they hire proper traffic engineering people. Most of the bottlenecks are not resolved or considered as part of improving smooth traffic flow. They should also consider moving busy markets to the outskirts and build specialized markets around vacant areas to eliminate the need for people to go to the inner city in the morning and come back during evening (rush hours traffic reduction).
Smart urban planning, traffic engineering and standardized execution is missing. There is absolutely no difference between Shahbaz sharif and co’s piecemeal development approach – short signed / wasting billions.
Wake up IK. Please have a better team in Punjab – educated, honest and progressive.
As per Turkish team enquiry repory on Lahore Traffic Chaos, relevant engineering department is reponsible for these traffic bottlenecks due to wrong riad designs. So root cause is unprofessional n incompetent staff in the concenrned depaprtments. Unfortunately problem makers are designinng the solutions.
Pl let them think and plan. Adverse comments are there even before study of the project.
Relocation of markets( which gets major traffic influx) at city different places should be considered. Only underpass and tunnels are not enough as we lack civic sense, on the other hand numbers of cars in Lahore are increasing overall.
Nothing is gonna to happen as long as overpopulation is controlled.
Sounds good, but concerned about the Trees from Mianmir Bridge to Neela Gumbad Are the most majestic trees in all Lahore to be felled because for better traffic on mall road? How about no traffic closures due to VIP movement?