Traffic mess at Liberty Chowk to end soon

LAHORE
Endless traffic jams at the Liberty Chowk will be ended soon as three new traffic engineering solutions have been proposed to improve the traffic at this one of the most important crossings in the provincial capital.
The Liberty Chowk is one of the busiest chowks of commercial activity. The proposed solutions are under discussion and one of them will be implemented soon after its approval by Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif who himself is supervising the ongoing Signal Free Corridor project on Main Boulevard Gulberg and Jail Road.
Sources at the LDA said the first proposal, which is most likely to be implemented, is to construct a one-way underpass from the Main Boulevard towards the Kalma Chowk. As per plan, the traffic flow from the Main Boulevard will take the underpass towards the centre-point and the Kalma Chowk where the commuters will have an option to either go straight towards the Kalma Underpass or exit before next to the center- Point. For the traffic coming from the Kalma Chowk and going towards the Liberty Market, the planners decided that it will flow over the underpass towards the right while the traffic coming from Qazzafi Stadium will flow towards the Main boulevard and in case one would want to go towards the Liberty Market, he/she would need to take the U-Turn between the Liberty Chowk and Pace, which is not more than 1-2 minutes drive.
The second proposal was pretty similar to the first one, with the major difference being the availability of a U-Turn for those before the Liberty Chowk, sources said adding those who travel for work to and from the Gulberg Main Boulevard area, Liberty Market and the adjoining areas knew the mental torture they go through every day.
The third proposal is construction of a two-way underpass for traffic coming from the Kalma Chowk and from the Main Boulevard. This plan was looking to maintain the Liberty Round as it is, but the engineering design and calculations show that the traffic flux distribution would not work with this plan and there would be too much load on the centre- point intersection with traffic coming from the Cavalry Ground, Kalma Chowk Underpass and the exit points of the Liberty Underpass.
Shahid, a daily commuter on the Main Boulevard, said he faced traffic jams at the Liberty Chowk every day. He said accidents are also a daily feature at this crossing. He appreciated the government for thinking about this crossing. He suggested that a two-side underpass will be best solution to ease the traffic as well as to preserve the old look of the Liberty Chowk. Israr Saeed, a senior LDA official while talking with The News, said that all the three plans are under discussion and the best will be chosen because the government does not want to give the Liberty Chowk an alien or new look.