Under an urban regeneration project, the Metropolitan Corporation (MC) Faisalabad has launched a comprehensive plan to revive the colonial-era eight bazaars surrounding the historic Clock Tower, a landmark of the city popularly known as the Manchester of Pakistan. Photo: Express
FAISALABAD:
Town planners and civil society representatives have questioned the Faisalabad Development Authority’s (FDA) proposed remodelling plan for Canal Road, arguing that similar beautification and development projects in the past had failed to resolve traffic problems despite costing millions of rupees.
They described the proposed expenditure as a potential waste of public funds unless the underlying issues of traffic management, service roads, ramps, U-turns and enforcement were addressed through proper engineering and planning.
The criticism came after Commissioner Faisalabad Dr Imran Hamid Sheikh said that remodelling Canal Road from Abdullahpur Chowk to Gatwala was essential to provide citizens with safer, more convenient and uninterrupted travel facilities.
Chairing a meeting on Canal Road traffic management, the commissioner said the comprehensive plan prepared by the FDA would be reviewed in coordination with all relevant departments to reduce traffic pressure and improve travelling facilities.
FDA Director General Muhammad Asif Chaudhry briefed the meeting on the proposed traffic management and remodelling plan.
Director Development Asif Chauhan, Chief Traffic Officer Nasir Javed, Chief Officer Municipal Corporation Usman Ghani, Assistant Commissioner General Atiya Inayat and representatives of other departments also attended the meeting.
According to the FDA, its engineers prepared the plan after conducting a technical and traffic engineering study.
The proposal includes construction of two new bridges, two additional U-turns on both sides of Canal Road, removal of 10 unnecessary ramps and construction of four new ramps to connect Canal Road with the service road.
The plan would also improve connectivity between Samundri Road and Canal Expressway and provide faster and safer travel facilities to residents.
However, private town planner Nadeem Khursheed said the focus should not primarily be on remodelling the main Canal Road but on correcting the deficiencies in the existing service roads and access points.
“There are two or three critical issues here. One is that there are far too many accidents, mainly because of ramps, cross-intersections and improperly designed U-turns on the Canal Expressway,” he said.
Khursheed said motorcycles and other slow-moving vehicles should be diverted to properly developed service roads, but the existing service roads were poorly connected, forcing motorists to enter the main Canal Road.
Khursheed also pointed to the high speed of traffic on the Canal Expressway as a major safety concern. He said motorcycles frequently entered the main road from the sides, creating dangerous situations, while buses, tractors and other heavy vehicles also posed risks in the absence of effective enforcement.
“Without proper traffic management and enforcement, even if another Rs10 billion or Rs20 billion is spent on the road, the situation will remain the same,” he said.
Civil society activist and lawyer Malik Aftab Shahzad Jorra called for a comprehensive engineering solution involving reputed consultants and meaningful public consultation before finalising the design.
He said the plan should include segregation of motorcycles from fast-moving traffic, properly designed U-turns and ramps and restrictions on direct access to the expressway.
Jorra stressed the need to develop service roads along both sides of Canal Road and proposed introducing a dedicated bus lane from the industrial estate towards the airport to improve public transport connectivity.
He also called for proper road markings, traffic signals and a dedicated traffic management mechanism in coordination with the traffic police.
Jorra further suggested installing surveillance cameras along the route to detect traffic violations and over-speeding and improve enforcement.
