Crowded streets in downtown localities on Karachi, especially in Saddar area of district South need small overhead bridges to mitigate traffic jams and facilitate the citizens.
Although traffic police and KMC staff is often present in these congested areas, they are not enough to regulate smooth flow of vehicles and pedestrian. In order to control growing traffic jams in these busy commercial and residential areas, it needs innovative ideas and the out of the box initiatives.
Traffic congestion is everywhere in urban cities of the world, but they try their best to control it using latest technology, innovative thinking and brave timely actions. The approach is also needed in Karachi, which is amongst the largest cities of the world.
Small underpasses and flyovers are used all over the world on busy streets to regulate traffic flow. These small underpasses and flyovers are not only cost-effective, but they help better regulation of traffic, minimising the use of traffic lights and cops.
Such small overpasses and flyovers have become inevitable for the downtown areas of Karachi to cope with the growing traffic jams that are wasting time and money of citizens, besides producing noise and air pollution in the city.
An overpass or a flyover is a bridge that crosses over another road. Together, they form a grade separation. The crowded parts of downtown areas have many overpasses for a better flow of traffic. Overpasses and flyovers play a major role in streamlining the traffic control system as avoiding congestion saves time.
The pollution effect is also reduced with these structures. They reduce the risk of accidents and also contribute to the aesthetics of the city, as people using flyovers can also enjoy the panoramic view of the city.
An overpass is an old engineering device built to cope with traffic jams. The Croydon Railway constructed the world’s first railroad overpass in 1843 in London to carry its railway vehicles over the Brighton Main Line. The first overpass in India was opened on April 14, 1965, at Kemps Corner in Mumbai.
The world’s most crowded city, Tokyo, is famous for its multi-staged street overpasses that successfully regulate traffic of the city. There is no harm in studying these systems and trying to replicate some of them in Karachi.
During the city governments of Niamatullah Khan and Mustafa Kamal, Karachi got some beautiful flyovers built, but the city still awaits small street-based overpasses and flyover in congested areas like Saddar. These small structures of steel could be easily erected over different street junctions in the Saddar area and could reduce traffic jams successfully.
The city government should introduce small overpasses and flyovers on the MA Jinnah Road Mansfield Street junction, Rizvi Shaheed Road, Preedy Street junction Depot Lines, Shahrah-e-Liaquat, Daudpota Road junction, Zaibunnisa Street Shahrah-e-Liaquat junction, Shahrah-e-Liaquat Abdullah Haroon Road junction, Shahrah-e-Liaquat Court Road junction, Shahrah-e-Liaquat Muhammad Bin Qasim Road junction and Sarwar Shaheed Road Zaibunnisa Street junction.
Now when the elected councilors have assumed their offices, it is expected from them to design and get approved the projects and small overpasses and flyovers in busy commercial and residential areas of the city to mitigate the sufferings of the locals. Local engineering universities, particularly NED University of Engineering and Technology, could greatly assist the city government in erecting these small overpasses over different streets of Karachi.
However, if Karachi Deputy Mayor Arshad A Vohra could visit the crowded streets of Saddar Karachi, he will easily assess the importance of mini-flyovers and underpasses in this overcrowded and traffic congested locality to facilitate the citizens.
