RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Communication and Works Department will start work on two underpasses worth Rs8 billion at Race Course Park and Charing Cross on Peshawar Road from Monday.

The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was awarded the contract and has completed the alternate road along Peshawar Road so that traffic will not be stopped on the main artery of the garrison city.

All traffic will be diverted to the service roads of Peshawar Road.

On the other hand, Punjab Minister for Communication and Works Malik Sohaib Ahmed Bherth directed the department to start work on September 7 and complete it in the minimum possible time, as per the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, so that people would not suffer.

Traffic to be diverted to service roads as Race Course Park, Charing Cross projects get under way

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that earlier it was planned to construct three underpasses, including at Race Course Park, Army Graveyard and Charing Cross. However, he said the plan was changed and now two underpasses, at Race Course Park and Charing Cross, would be constructed on Peshawar Road, while Army Graveyard would be given an at-grade road.

He said shifting of utility services, including electricity pylons, water supply lines, telephone and cable networks, had been completed.

He said service roads had been constructed from Qasim Market to Radio Pakistan and from Maryam Hospital to Rafay Mall so that traffic could continue to ply on Peshawar Road.

“It is not possible to close the road for traffic for two months like the department did in Kutchery Chowk. The service road has been completed and all traffic will ply on it from Monday,” he said.

These underpasses are part of the plan for a signal-free corridor from Islamabad Expressway to Motorway Chowk on Peshawar Road. The construction work on the underpasses has to be completed by the end of this year.

The total length of the signal-free corridor is 25 kilometres and it aims to reduce travel time from Islamabad Expressway to Motorway Chowk on Peshawar Road to 15 to 20 minutes.

In this regard, work on General Post Office Chowk was completed last year, while the Kutchery Chowk remodelling project was completed in May.

The work on the two underpasses on Peshawar Road at Race Course Park and Charing Cross is likely to be completed in the next two to three months.

When contacted, Qamar Saqib, Executive Engineer of the Punjab Highway Department, said the groundwork for the new underpass projects had been completed and work would be launched on Monday.

He confirmed that the provincial minister for communication had directed the department to complete the projects in the minimum possible time and asked it to form a monitoring team that would check the quality of construction material and send a daily report to the provincial minister and the office of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

He said that in the first phase, the shifting of services had been completed on Peshawar Road and construction work on the underpasses would be started.

He said traffic would not suffer as the contractor had constructed service roads to cater to the needs of traffic.

He said there was a dire need to construct underpasses to establish a signal-free corridor to Motorway Chowk so that people could travel on the city’s main road without any hurdle.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2026