Provision of a By-Pass to a Metropolitan City (Rawalpindi Bypass – A Case Study)

Abstract

Safe and efficient transportation system is the basic need of every developed and developing country of the world for the ease, comfort and convenience of their people. Transportation systems are a basis of logistics and planning. The aim of transportation system is to coordinate the movements in order to utilize roots efficiently. Roads are the most important part of construction in any developing countries of the world. It is the basic mean for development and economic well-being of a country.In Pakistan 92 percent ofpassengers and 96 percent of freight movement is done through the road network. So undoubtedly it is the backbone of the country.Twincities Rawalpindi and Islamabadare developed cities of Pakistan having further tendency of rapid urbanization.The Rawalpindi city is the hub of economic activities and centrally located city that become a conflicting point for the traffic coming from/going to Khyber Pakhthoon Kha (KPK) and Punjab or Azad Kashmir. The Grand Trunk(GT) road is the only route available for the traffic movement. The heavy traffic carries the inland freight of the country become a major source of congestion in the city due to non-availability of suitable bypass.TheRawalpindi bypass is already a proposed project by Punjab development authority named as Rawalpindi ring road. An unnecessary delay of the project causes increases in congestion and financial loss.Congestion become the inevitable problem in a city, which will cause travel time delays, safety problems and vehicle operation losses. Thethree alternatives are suggested and analysedto select the best one. Alternative-1 is Do-Nothing (existing Road), 6alternative-2 is a proposed bypass has twolanes on each side and alternative-3 is a proposed bypass has threelanes on each side.The Project involves transportation demand estimation on different segments of a city, project costs, travel time savings, safety saving,vehicle operating cost savings andeconomic efficiency analysis.Thus a quantitative analysis should be carried out, basedon statistical data to reachthe final decision of a bypass.Alternative-2 is selected as best and economical alternative for given circumstances.