LAHORE - The long-awaited flyover at the Shami Road, designed to provide an alternative route to the Lahore Airport, has been shelved in the current financial year 2008-09 despite the fact that it was a part of the Annual Development Programme (ADP), while Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA), assigned to construct the flyover, had also finalised PC-1 for executing the project. The Punjab Govt had assigned designing of the flyover to the Nespak. However, the stated reasons for the delay is the modified design as suggested by the TEPA. The construction of the flyover was expected to lessen the traffic on The Mall as most of people coming from and going to the airport used Mall Road for the purpose, while it was also expected to reduce traffic in the Cantonment and Defence areas. The approximate cost of the one-kilometre-long flyover from Hussain Chowk to Hamdani Chowk at the Shami Road had been calculated to the tune of Rs 900 million. The construction of proposed flyover was planned to commence in the first quarter of the current year with expected completion by December. However, the project has been put on hold after it was felt that the design prepared for the flyover needed to be amended to make it compatible to current demand of traffic. In this regard, Chief Engineer TEPA Imtiaz Abid told The Nation that the project, planned to be executed in current fiscal year, had to be put off as it was thought necessary to bring some changes in the original designs of the venture. He said a number of innovative changes had been made in the design including road widening and road cuts and added that TEPA had sent a requisition to Planning and Development Department seeking formal approval. He hoped to include the project in next ADP. According to present design of the project, the bridge will link Liberty Chowk to the Airport Road at Bhatta Chowk and then with the Kheera Distributary at the Ring Road passing through Baidian Road. The bridge would start from a point near a coffee shop on Mehmood Ali Kasuri Road and would pass over the Railway Line and the adjacent locality to connect with the Shami Road at the Hamdani Chowk, thus reducing the traffic on the Jinnah Flyover. It is also expected to help smoothen traffic flow on the Qarshi Lane from Centre Point to Firdous Market, as well as the Cavalry Ground area leading to Defence Chowk on Walton Road. Eventually, the traffic towards Defence and Cantonment would be made one-way, with the Jinnah Flyover being used to leave Defence and the Hussain Chowk Flyover for travelling in the opposite direction. A traffic study conducted by the TEPA in 2006 had shown that the volume of cars on all city roads had crossed the international standard capacity of lanes. Construction of the flyover would help traffic managers meet this standard, as the traffic load on many adjacent roads would decrease.