<div class="title3">Friends, </div> <div class="title3"> </div> <div class="title3">My organization, the Urban Unit, was established to integrate the urban sector and to find collective and participatory solutions to problems related to urbanization, motorization and population increase. </div> <div class="title3">Please find below a news article showcasing one of the projects we initiated. </div> <div class="title3"> </div> <div class="title3"><u></u> </div> <div class="title3"><u></u> </div> <div class="title3"><u></u> </div> <div class="title3"><u>Inauguration of integrated traffic management system:</u></div> <p class="text"><img height="188" src="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2007/03/06/20070306_42.jpg" width="250" align="right" border="0"> <b>TEPA tells Forest Dept to relocate nursery</b><br><br><i>* Chief minister to inaugurate project within a couple of days <br><br>By Arshad Dogar</i><br><br>LAHORE: The Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) has served notice to the Forest Department to relocate a nursery on Ferozepur Road for the opening ceremony of a pilot project that will introduce an integrated traffic management system from Qurtaba Chowk to General Hospital. <br><br>The nursery is located near a laboratory of the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) close to the Ferozepur Road-Canal intersection and is in the way of traffic.<br><br>A TEPA official said the agency had served notice because Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was going to open the project within a couple of days and that the nursery had to be removed for the project's smooth implementation. He said TEPA had in its notice suggested an alternative piece of land for the nursery. The Punjab Planning and Development Department has planned the project called 'An Efficient Ferozepur Road'. This it did on the orders of Elahi for an integrated traffic management plan for five large cities of Punjab. <br><br>Private consultants were hired to conduct a study of the road in which it was found that the following irregularities have been creating traffic problems. They are as follows: imperfect intersection geometry, lack of proper lane markings, non-standardised signage (international standards not being followed), poorly designed and managed signals, lack of a holistic approach (pedestrians, non-motorised and public transport, parking, facilities for special people), gaps in regulation and enforcement, poorly trained and irresponsible road users, disorganised institutional framework and lack of maintenance and futuristic planning. <br><br>The study also revealed that the traffic load had multiplied from Qurtaba Chowk to General Hospital (11 kilometres) by 150 percent between 1990 and 2001. About 136,000 vehicles ply on this road every day. The Punjab government plans to resolve all existing traffic problems with the help of the pilot project. This will act as a model not only for Lahore, but also for roads in Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi. <br><br>The TEPA official said stakeholders like the Traffic Police and Transport Department had been brought on one platform to resolve all issues related to the flow of traffic. He also said the project would be completed by the end of 2007 and would cost Rs 600 million. <br><br>He said that during the first phase of the project work would be done on the stretch from Canal Road to Railway Lines. He said TEPA would deal with the engineering and development, Traffic Police would deal with operations while the Transport Department would try to change the mindset of drivers. <br><br>The official said TEPA would improve the road, expand a certain stretch of service roads by 20 feet, widen and rehabilitate the remaining par of the service roads, remodel 14 bus stops (improve their capacity and depth) and remodel 22 accesses to service/side roads. The drainage system would be improved with the Water and Sanitation Agency's cooperation, he added. <br><br>"Under the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system about 17 signals will be interconnected and linked with the Area Traffic Control Room for a smooth and integrated flow of traffic," he said, adding that existing signals were not connected to each other, which was one of the main causes of traffic congestion. <br><br>He said signals that would be connected to the central control room were the one at Qurtaba Chowk, Sanam Chowk, LOS, Shama, Shalimar, Muslim Town More, Canal Crossing, Gadaffi Stadium Chowk, Kalma Chowk, Model Town More, Bhabra, Gulab Devi, Ittefaq Hospital, Qainchi and Ghazi Road. </p> <div>Regards, </div> <div> </div> <div>Hassaan Ghazali<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Institutional Development Specialist<br>Urban Sector Policy and Management Unit (The Urban Unit)<br>Planning & Development Department, <br>Government of the Punjab<br><br> A: 4-B Lytton Road, Lahore, Pakistan<br>T: 9213579-84 (Ext.116)<br>F: 9213585<br>M: 0345 455 6016<br>Skype: halgazel<br><a href="http://hghazali.googlepages.com">http://hghazali.googlepages.com</a><br><br>*When conditions are right, everything will go wrong* </div>