By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: Experts have blamed wrong ‘engineering’ of roads for the traffic mess in Islamabad and criticised the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for disregarding this aspect while carrying out road projects.
They have also come hard on the CDA for flouting Islamabad’s original master plan, which had envisaged signal-free roads in the federal capital. Currently, 102 traffic signals and 50 speed breakers are installed on the city roads. Institute of Traffic Educations’ Ansar Javad Khatana told Daily Times that wrong engineering of the roads was the major reason of traffic jams in the city. He said had the roads been constructed by fulfilling technical formalities, vehicles would have a trouble-free drive in the city. He said the CDA had even installed traffic signals at the newly constructed roads in violation of the master plan. This is inconveniencing motorists, he said.
He claimed the newly constructed 7th and 9th avenues were also not constructed properly. He also objected to the speed limits set by the Islamabad traffic police for vehicles running on these two major arteries of the city and said the limits needed to be reviewed. He said the CDA better had completed work on these two roads before opening them to traffic. The rash decisions on the part of CDA can cause traffic accidents, he warned.
Islamabad Traffic SSP Zubair Hashmi claimed the CDA had never bothered to take on board traffic police before making road plans. He pointed out that the CDA had completed the construction of Kulsoom Plaza underpass but traffic snarls were still seen on the roads in the area. CDA’s Traffic Engineer Muhammad Azam denied that the engineering plans of city’s many roads were faultily designed. He said traffic problems would lessen once the underpasses were completed.