LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has ordered the introduction of dedicated bike lanes on major roads across Lahore, alongside a strict enforcement drive against traffic violations — particularly by vehicles operating under the provincial Suthra Punjab programme.
The directives were issued on Monday at a special meeting on traffic management chaired by the chief minister, according to an official statement released after the session. The decisions cover pedestrian safety, signal infrastructure, freight regulation and congestion at the city’s entry and exit points.
The chief minister expressed concern over repeated traffic violations by vehicles deployed under the Suthra Punjab sanitation initiative and directed the authorities to ensure their full compliance with traffic laws. She also expressed grief over the death of a minor girl who was run over by a Suthra Punjab vehicle.
The instruction is significant because the programme operates a large fleet of collection vehicles and tractor-trolleys that move through residential neighbourhoods and arterial roads at all hours. Bringing a government-linked fleet under the same enforcement regime as private transport is likely to be read as a signal that compliance will not be selective.
The meeting agreed that zebra crossings would be monitored digitally through cameras to discourage pedestrians from crossing roads at prohibited points. A proposal to install alert buttons for pedestrians was also placed before the participants for consideration.
To test the approach before any citywide rollout, the chief minister ordered the launch of a pilot project on The Mall to ensure compliance with zebra-crossing rules. The Mall carries heavy mixed traffic alongside government offices, educational institutions and commercial activity, making it a demanding test case for enforcement based on surveillance rather than manual policing.
Ferozepur Road was declared a model road, with the authorities directed to install traffic signals at Pine Avenue and Jati Umra Chowk. Model-road designations typically involve concentrated investment in signalling, lane discipline and pedestrian infrastructure, with the corridor serving as a benchmark for subsequent upgrades elsewhere in the city.
The chief minister ordered strict enforcement of the requirement that cargo-carrying tractor-trolleys be covered before entering roads, adding that the same rule must apply to Suthra Punjab tractor-trolleys. She further directed the authorities to launch a crackdown on overloaded tractor-trolleys across the province before the start of the sugarcane season.
The timing is deliberate. The crushing season brings a sharp seasonal surge in trolley movement on highways and link roads, and overloading has long been associated with spillage, lane obstruction and night-time collisions on rural and peri-urban routes.
Immediate measures were sought to ease congestion at Shahdara and Thokar Niaz Baig, with the chief minister stressing that traffic movement at the city’s entry and exit points should remain unobstructed. Both interchanges function as primary gateways for inter-city and freight traffic, and delays there tend to cascade into the wider urban network.
Briefing the meeting, Lahore Chief Traffic Officer Syed Abdul Rahim Shirazi said the city’s position on the Numbeo Global Traffic Ranking Index had improved from 149th to 29th.
He said traffic congestion had fallen by up to 70 per cent at Jati Umra Chowk, Pine Avenue, Defence Mor, Karim Block, Akbar Flyover, Kahna and Main Boulevard.
The meeting was also informed that 4,096 traffic permits and licences had been issued to youngsters aged 16 to 18, while 65,000 panic buttons had been installed for women at various locations in Lahore.
The chief minister welcomed the improvement in Lahore’s traffic ranking in South Asia and called for continued efforts to strengthen traffic management in the city.
The immediate test will be implementation. Dedicated bike lanes require sustained physical segregation and enforcement to remain usable, while camera-based pedestrian monitoring depends on consistent follow-through. Attention is expected to shift next to the pilot project on The Mall and the pace of signal installation on Ferozepur Road.
Leave a Reply