CDA urged to build crossing bridges on major avenues

Islamabad : Taking cognizance of the high number of reported accidents on the major avenues of the federal capital due to less number of crossing bridges for the pedestrians, Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) have urged the civic agency to provide the mandatory facility to them on short distance for the sake of their life.

Talking to this agency, ITP Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Farrukh Rashid Thursday while calling upon the Capital Development Authority (CDA), asked it to build pedestrian bridges/underpasses on the busy thoroughfares of the city which not only help ensure uninterrupted flow of traffic but also the safety of pedestrians and motorists.

“There is an urgent need to build 21 pedestrian-cum-biker bridges over the overburdened Islamabad Expressway to ensure the safety of the citizens,” he stressed.

The 27km long artery, accommodating huge influx of population on both sides from Faisal Mosque to Rawat, had only four or five bridges, posing threat to the life of road users.

He said ITP had identified critical areas from Sohan to Kak Bridge where majority of the public mobility took place and a number of cases of accidents were consecutively reported.

Furrukh said the numbers of overhead bridges/ underpasses on the roads carrying burden of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad were not enough to facilitate people moving in thousands per day, he added.

The SSP said the Express Way being an Inter-provincial artery required urgent attention as the population burden along its both sides was ever increasing, inviting multiple problems of traffic flow and public safety.

He also underlined the need for installing the facility at least after one Kilo meter distance, especially on long arteries including Kashmir Highway, Murree Road and Park road to ensure their safe and secure mobility.

Arslan Haider a resident of Iqbal Town said, there was too much distance between the already installed pedestrian bridges and people in a short cut move crossed the roads by foot and fell prey to accidents.

Abdul Samad, the resident of G-13 also complained the people residing alongside Kashmir Highway were making their passage by breaking the dividers at the various points of the road, threatening their lives and motorists as well.

He also demanded the maintenance of broken road dividers along Kashmir High way as it was inviting accidents.

When contacted the CDA''s spokesman said there were six bridges constructed for the pedestrian/bikers movement while four more would be erected under the Islamabad Expressway signal free corridor project likely to be completed this year.

On the Kashmir Highway, he said the civic agency had built a single crossing bridge near Shakarparian and the second one was constructed by the Metro Bus Service near weekly bazaar. “The construction of more bridges in process with a distance of 15 kilometres,” the spokesman added.