So here is the December review.
They have almost completed 70-75kms on both sides. Again I'd say the drive is a charm. People complaining about the quality need to wait for the whole highway to complete, we should give FWO that much benefit of doubt. And considering they shall be responsible to maintain the road for next 25 years, I am sure they will not build a sub standard highway which needs maintenance and repair every now and then.
They have almost finished the portion from DHA City all the way to Toll Plaza on Hyderabad side with km stretch remaining on Hyderabad side. Bridges are being widened and interchanges being built. Considering their speed I don't think they should take more than 2 months to complete the section all the way to Hyderabad toll plaza including widening of bridges. Interchanges however might need more time.
That brings us to the section between DHA city and Sohrab Goth. Considering not much work has been done on this more than 50k long portion, I don't think they'll be able to complete the entire motorway by June 2017. I'll give it a Dec 17 date, possibly a couple of months earlier but no sooner.
We need to keep in mind that building this motorway is no easy task comparing to other motorways for multiple reasons:
- This is a highway to motorway conversion project which means uprooting the existing road, dig it up, level it, widen it and then carpet it.
- This is one of the busiest if not the busiest road in Pakistan so traffic is massive.
Now lets come to the not so good parts
Despite lots of hue and cry, media coverage, accidents, fatalities, court orders etc it seems NHA and FWO simply don't give a damn about the safety aspects.
- Lack of proper sign boards overall especially in case of diversions. Its only when you need to turn for the diversion that you actually see a sign board, nothing to warn you in advance, so if you are driving at even normal speed, be careful.
- Absolutely pathetic quality of diversions. Have said so much about it already. Absolutely disgusting.
- Chaos at diversions as drivers tend to go in different directions with no one in sight to help.
- Traffic jams have become too common now at certain portions only due to above mentioned points.
- Height of the block/road separator in the middle seems to be an issue as it doesn't hide lights coming from opposite direction.
- According to the court, one diversion can not be more than 2.5km long but who cares, many of them are.
- As mentioned above, the points where bridges are being widened or intersections built, they have created diversions at those places but again no warning nothing. You are driving at normal speed and suddenly you see a diversions sign from few meters away and you have to put sudden brakes. Extremely dangerous it is.