LAHORE: The Punjab government’s green-marked bike lanes pilot project on the three-lane Ferozepur Road, apparently, proved a ‘faulty scheme’ due to the hard dividers/bricks constructed on the road, increasing traffic pressure and accidents on the rest of the two lanes of the main artery.

The motorists who were using the patch of the road declared it ‘flawed’ engineering/planning of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for placing bricks instead of cat eyes to divide the road for the two-wheelers.

It was evident from the emerging complaints and the reports that Ferozepur Road remains continuously choked for traffic, increasing accidents every day, almost 30 per cent more than the previous arrangement.

There were reports that the Lahore traffic police had opposed the idea of dividing the road for the two-wheelers by placing bricks saying it would cause severe traffic obstruction.

Motorists say planners should have used cat’s eyes instead of bricks on Ferozepur Road; LDA DG says panel formed to suggest changes

Dawn spoke to many motorists and a majority of the road users suggested to the government to remove/demolish hard dividers to make the first-ever bike lane project a success.

They were of the views that the three-lane Ferozepur Road was already too narrow to bear the brunt of the traffic, particularly, at night when heavy commercial vehicles including trucks and trolleys travelled on the road, creating risk of fatal accidents.

A government employee, Sajid, said the construction of the blocks on the road to separate the green lane has left two lanes heavily choked for heavy traffic like trucks, passenger buses and cars.

He said the bikers continued to use the two lanes designated for the heavy traffic due to the poor enforcement of traffic laws.

Resultantly, Sajid said, the traffic has been moving on the two lanes of the Ferozepur Road at a snail’s pace.

Another motorist, Arshad Nawaz, who was running a garments shop at Ichhra, raised a question mark on the capability of the LDA engineers for selecting the three-lane Ferozepur Road for the separate green lane.

“I am traveling daily from Kahna to Ichhra and witnessed that the dividers/blocks are causing frequent accidents”, said Arshad.

He said it was a normal practice that auto-rickshaws or other old vehicles used to develop mechanical faults, forcing the drivers to park them alongside the road to wait for the mechanics.

“I noticed the same happened on the said patch of the Ferozepur Road from Arfa Karim Tower to the Kalma Chowk where the LDA constructed a divider for the green lane”, Arshad Nawaz said.

Once, he said, he found out that the single lane got occupied by a [broken down] car near Gulab Devi Hospital.

The long queues of the vehicles on the road from the same point to the Kalma Chowk caused unbearable inconvenience for the motorists, he said.

A medical student of the Allama Iqbal Medical College said the incidents of vehicles’ collision on the Ferozepur Road due to the green-marked lane have become a permanent feature, causing blockade of the huge traffic.

“I am witness to two to three road accidents taking place daily due the blocks/dividers constructed on the road”, the student said.

An auto-rickshaw driver said the Ferozepur Road remains continuously choked at certain sections for traffic due to the newly-laid down bike lane.

“Earlier, it used to take me 5-10 minutes to drive from Arfa Karim Tower to the Lahore Canal which now extends to 20-25 minutes due to the bike lane”, he said.

LDA DG Tahir Farooq confirmed to Dawn that his department received serious observations regarding the placement of the bricks causing obstructions, saying it was a pilot project and there is a room to review it as per the complaints.

He said he has constituted a technical committee comprising experts to submit a detailed report in the light of the observations.

“Since it was a pilot project of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and was not replicated in any part of the province, we will review it to make it a success story”, the DG said.

The blocks are removable and the LDA is considering a proposal to replace them with cat eyes, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2025