ISLAMABAD: At least two people were killed and another six were left injured on Wednesday when a truck lost control and rammed into multiple cars on Islamabad Expressway.
The accident took place at Kaak-pul bridge near Naval Anchorage on the main highway that links Islamabad with Rawat on Grand Trunk (GT) Road.
Initial investigations revealed that breaks of the speeding and over-loaded truck failed and the driver lost control of his vehicle before hitting five vehicles including a public transport van and four private cars. The truck overturned on the main road after the collision causing traffic jam for hours.
Fatal road crashes are frequent on Islamabad highway, often the result of careless driving. The sudden narrowing of five lane road into two near Gulberg causes a bottle-neck. Speeding vehicles, narrow road, and pot- holes, add to the miseries of commuters on Gulberg-Rawat section of this main artery of the federal capital city.
In December last year, the office of the district magistrate issued a notification, banning the entrance of heavy vehicles during rush hours of morning and evening.
Hundreds of thousands of people living in scores of housing colonies built around the area use this road daily to go to their offices, educational institutions and businesses. In order to regulate the traffic congestion, the district magistrate on December 11, 2018 banned entry of heavy vehicles on this road from 7-9 am in the morning and 5-7 pm in the evening.
Users of the road complain, this time limit was not sufficient. Moreover, the administration failed to implement the notified time limit.
Dear @dcislamabad i thought heavy vehicles were banned during peak traffic hours. These pictures were taken yesterday at 4 pm @isbexpressway pic.twitter.com/Q70nI1NNTy
— Farhan Nawazish (@ferhanz) May 28, 2019
Expansion of Gulberg-Rawat section of the road has hit delays of years. Capital Development Authority (CDA), the main civic body of the federal capital had demanded the federal government to allocate Rs10 billion for this portion of the road. Interestingly, only Rs 425 million were allocated for the current fiscal year.
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has yet to approve PC-I of ‘the Rs.10 billion project’ which implies that even the allocated Rs.425 million will not be released by the federal government until the approval of PC-I.
CDA on Tuesday announced it would widen U-turns at PWD and Pakistan Town from its own resources.
The interim project will be concluded with the support of housing societies in the vicinity of the highway while the CDA will provide resources, the civic body said in a press statement.
CDA had been asking the housing societies of the area to contribute in developing the road but has received poor response from the management of these residential colonies.
