Lahore is one of the largest metropolitan cities of Pakistan. The city also serves as one of the country’s commercial and industrial hubs. Due to its central location, the city also serves as the supply line for many adjoining cities like Gujranwala and Sialkot.
Due to its high population density and booming commerce, the city of Lahore attracts thousands of visitors each day, which flock towards it in search of new business, employment and trade opportunities.
All these factors combined make Lahore one of the most over-crowded cities of Pakistan in terms of traffic. When thousands of vehicles enter and exit the city daily, it creates traffic choke points across multiple areas of the city.
One of the worst of these traffic choke points used to be in the area of Shahdara, which when entering the city from National Highways N60 and N5, comes right before River Ravi.
Traffic entering and exiting Lahore from Shahdara used to get terribly choked, even for hours at a time, causing immense agony for the general public and transporters alike.
Such massive traffic jams also became a major cause of air and noise pollution, making Lahore one of the worst cities of the world in terms of air quality. However, we have a really exciting development to share on this front!
In the mid of November, 2023, the Shahdara Flyover has not only been completed on a fast track basis, but also opened for the general public. This is proving to be a landmark project for the city of Lahore, as it will considerably alleviate the city’s traffic woes.
The credit of completing this project goes to the Punjab Government and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). Work on the project commenced in February of 2023, and was opened for the general public in mid November, 2023.
Technical Details of the Shahdara Flyover
In highly congested traffic areas, where horizontal expansion is either too expensive or impossible due to lack of space, flyovers prove quite effective. The Shahdara Flyover was also conceived by LDA while keeping these limitations in mind.
The Shahdara Flyover spans a length of 850 meters, which is fairly long by flyover standards. It has three lanes for each side, making it a 6 lane highway that propels you across the congestion of Shahdara in a matter of just a few minutes now.
The Economic and Environment Impact of Shahdara Flyover
As highlighted earlier, the traffic choke point at Shahdara caused a multitude of economic and environmental problems for this densely populated area. With this project open now, access to main Lahore city from N60 and N5 has become really easy and quick.
This flyover has eased the traffic congestion in the area, improving the air quality for not only the commuters, but also the residents of Shahdara. By saving on time, fuel and lengthy detours to avoid this previous choke-point, the economic impact of this project will also be huge, although it would take some time.
The Positive Impact of Shahdara Flyover on M2 Motorway
Before the completion of this landmark project, most of the heavy and light traffic travelling on N5 was forced to exit towards Lahore bypass near the city of Kala Shah Kaku, and join the Islamabad to Lahore M2 Motorway.
This caused a sudden and drastic increase of traffic flow on M2, choking the toll plaza where traffic travelling on M2 used to exit for Lahore. So, the Shahdara Flyover has also indirectly left a positive impact on the traffic flow at M2.
More Infrastructure Projects in the Pipeline
The good news is, Shahdara Flyover is not the last major project to grace the city of Lahore, also called “The Heart of Pakistan”. Other mega projects like the Sheikupura Flyover and new Ravi River Bridge are also in advanced stages of planning.
The combined impact of these projects will be quite positive for the economic, social and environmental uplift of Lahore, Pakistan’s hub for commerce, trade and historical tourism.
Conclusion
Although projects like the Shahdara Flyover will solve the city’s traffic woes in the short-term, this is not a permanent solution by any means. In the mid to long term, the city’s administration shall have to improve the quality and scale of public transport / mass transit, as those are the only sustainable solutions to such densely populated cities.
To improve the city’s air quality, traffic management is just one piece of the puzzle. The city is in dire need for stringent regulation of industrial wastes, city wide plantation drives, and vehicle emissions control.
It is steps like these that will preserve the aesthetic and historical beauty of this city for our future generations.
Brick Marketing & Developers (Pvt.) Ltd. is among the leading sales partners of Lahore Smart City (LSC), the second purpose built, environmentally sustainable and state of the art housing project of Pakistan.