LDA plans to make Shaukat Ali Road signal-free corridor

LAHORE : To control traffic flow on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, one of the main arteries of the city, Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has planned to make it a signal-free corridor with an estimated cost of Rs7 billion.

LDA DG will give a complete briefing on this mega project of 15-kilometre road to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in a few days.

This was revealed by LDA’s newly-appointed Chief Engineer Mazhar Khan while talking to selected media persons in his office here on Saturday. He said the main purpose of this plan was to connect two main arteries of the city Multan Road and Ferozpur Road.

As per the plan, the remodelling will start from Kharak Stop on Multan Road and will come to the roundabout of Karim Block Market. From there the road will turn towards Punjab University and an underpass or a flyover will be constructed at Karim Block Market’s signal at Wahdat Road junction, he said.

He added that at Jinnah Hospital, a single side underpass or a flyover will be constructed and then a single side underpass will be constructed on Shauq Chowk.

Mazhar Khan said that a double flyover will be constructed at Akbar Chowk and then a single side underpass will be constructed at Model Town Link Road. He said six twin U-turns will also be made on the road to make it signal-free.

He said no land acquisition was needed for the remodelling plan and the LDA will also construct footpaths.

The LDA chief engineer replying to a question said more than 14 overhead pedestrian bridges will also be constructed on the road out of which half will have a ramp so that the cyclists and motorcyclists can cross the road.

He said the remodelling of this important segment of the city will reduce travel time from one and a half hours to 10 to 15 min only. This will also reduce the fuel cost of the motorists besides improving the traffic flow on this segment of the road.

Talking about other ongoing mega development projects in the city, he said work was already started at Gulab Devi underpass and Shahkam Chowk underpass. He said both the projects will be completed in their stipulated time.