ISLAMABAD: Travelling daily on Islamabad Expressway from Koral to Rawat or vice versa has become a nightmare for commuters as traffic remains clogged for hours with apparently no immediate practical solution in sight. The route, claimed to be a signal-free facility by 2017, seems to remain a quagmire for daily commuters even in 2018 as authorities concerned are restricted to only paper work. CDA’s Director of Road Directorate North Tahir Mehmood said last year it had prepared a self-financed PC-1 of worth Rs 21 billion for widening the road by adding one more lane on each side from Koral to Rawat but later it was shelved due to the paucity of funds. However, he said the department again drafted another PC-1 that was approved in PSDP 2018-19 with a cost of Rs 10 billion. The project is likely to get green signal from ECNE in its next meeting, he added. Tahir said the project consists of two phases and Rs 5 billion have been earmarked for each phase. The area from Koral to Naval Anchorage would be constructed in the first phase while remaining part would be covered in the second phase. “We have invited pre-qualification from contractors and evaluation of application is under process that will be finalized by May 23.” “According to CDA’s laws, the tender has to be offered within 15 days of applications evaluation. The project will be kicked off by third week of June after award of the tender to the qualifier,” he said. Maqsood Satti, who daily commutes from Bahria Town to Sector F-8, said it was a nerve-testing job to reach office in time or get back home in an emergency as a lot of time is wasted in the queues of heavy vehicles. He said there was no other solution to this mess except construction of a ring road on both sides of the route. He said all the three lanes are seen most of the time occupied by the heavy trucks. Aleena Ilyas, a working journalist who has to travel daily from Media Town to Islamabad, said, “You cannot determine your time destination while reaching office or getting back home. It has become a daily routine.” Expressing dismay over the situation, she remarked, “It will never be changed.” Deputy Superintendent of ITP Arshad Chudary said the traffic jams are inevitable on this route because it has 10 lanes up to Gulberg but suddenly it narrows down to four lanes causing severe traffic mess that creates miserable condition for daily commuters. He said the signal-free corridor from Zero Point to Rawat was required to be completed as early as possible to get rid of this daily mess. “Adding one more lane will not serve to the cause and can’t be a permanent solution,” he said. “9 am and 5 pm are peak hours when the road bears heavy influx of traffic because of people moving from and to their offices and residences,” he said. Responding to a question, he said the heavy traffic from Islamabad Expressway during the peak hours was being diverted towards Gulberg’s round-about to let the light vehicles use fast lane. He said in the worst case scenarios, trucks are asked to line up on roadside to keep light traffic moving to clear the passage. The ITP, he said, has deputed two inspectors and eight officials on this route, working round the clock for the ease of commuters. A traffic sergeant at PWD stop said two narrow bridges and a couple of U-turns on this passage were major reasons of daily gridlocks on this heavily burdened artery. Published in Daily Times, May 21st 2018.