Rawalpindi: Rs400m underpass at Jhelum Road ‘to ease problem’

[Naveed Yaseen]

Obaid Abrar Khan
To ease traffic load at Kutchery Chowk, an underpass with a cost of Rs400 million is being constructed at Jhelum Road to divert vehicles to Adiala Road and Airport Road.

Talking to ‘The News,’ Saqlain Hayder, project director of the National Highway Authority (NHA), said that the Kutchery Chowk is one of the busiest crossings in Rawalpindi from where 95,000 vehicles pass through every day.

He said that the Kutchery Chowk always remain busy because all traffic, which comes from Jhelum Road, first reach this chowk and then goes to Airport Road, Mall Road, Adiala Road and Benazir Bhutto Road. This underpass would help decrease traffic load at Kutchery Chowk. Around 50,000 vehicles would pass through the underpass and go to Adiala and Airport roads, he said.

Saqlain said that the important

part of the underpass is the railway track, which would also pass through it. The trains on this track is used

by the Attock Refinery Limited

(ARL). “We would use the railway crossing on the side of Adiala Road and stop the traffic during train timings, he said.

He said that there would be a footpath along the underpass for pedestrians. A proper drainage system would be made here to avoid any difficulty during rain, he said.

He said “During the first phase of construction we haven’t disturbed the traffic yet. But in the second phase, we would block traffic from here as we have planned to finish the project within four months.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=173946