Panel suggests bypass, elevated expressway for heavy vehicles

The technical committee constituted to streamline heavy traffic in Karachi suggested removal of encroachments from all main arteries in the city and the construction of a southern bypass, an elevated expressway and interchange bridges in different areas to accommodate the flow of 107,000 heavy vehicles plying in the city.

Filing a report with the Sindh High Court on a petition with regard to the prevailing traffic mess and the movement of heavy vehicles in the city, Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani said that the technical committee headed by the transport secretary suggested long-term and short-term plans for improvement in the traffic situation in the city.

He submitted that the committee suggested that proper implementation of traffic routes should be ensure and traffic laws as per ground realities be revisited. The committee further proposed that as short-term measures encroachments from all main roads and arteries should be removed and oil tankers shifted to the Zulfikarabad oil terminal. It said that U-turns along with the Northern Bypass, Mauripur Road and the Lyari river should be closed, and all civic agencies should establish mobile units for immediate repairs of damaged portions of roads and potholes in them as well as for the removal of debris or wreckage after accidents.

The committee suggested that the dual carriage of the Northern Bypass should be executed as early as possible and new truck terminals should be constructed on the bypass and the National Highway as long-term measures.

It also called for the construction of an elevated expressway, a bypass road, an interchange bridge, an overhead bridge, and underpass at the deep sea port, KPT, industrial zone and Quaidabad to regulate the heavy vehicles’ movement on the city roads.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, after taking the commissioner’s report on record, adjourned the hearing till January 10 so that the petitioners or other parties could submit their replies.

The court had directed the Karachi mayor, the transport secretary and other relevant authorities to chalk out a strategy for resolving the issue of traffic jams and the plying of heavy traffic during the day.

Faisal Bengali and others had filed petition in the court with regard to the prevailing traffic mess and the movement of heavy traffic in the city during day hours. They submitted that the route map earlier submitted by the traffic DIG to the court was not being implemented in letter and spirit.