Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed Road ( ur, کرنال شیر خان شہید روڈ), previously known as the IJP Road ( ur, آئی جے پی روڈ), or the IJ Principal Road, is one of the busiest roads in the

Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area The Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area (Urdu:) is 3rd largest metropolitan area of Pakistan after Karachi and Lahore. It consists Pakistan of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, along with several gated suburbs include Chaklala Ca ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, connecting

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

. It also serves as a route for traffic coming from

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

going towards

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

Attock Attock ( Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st larg ...

, and onwards to

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

. It is named IJ Principle Road because it is the road that was going to be between the never-built Sector J and Sector I of Islamabad. It starts at

N-5 National Highway The N-5 or National Highway 5 (Urdu: ) is a 1819 km national highway in Pakistan, which extends from Karachi in Sindh to Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Route The N-5 is the longest national highway in Pakistan and serves as an import ...

in the west and ends at

Faizabad Interchange Faizabad Interchange ( ur, ) is a cloverleaf interchange which serves as a junction between Islamabad Highway and Murree Road in Islamabad, Pakistan. Constructed by NESPAK at a cost of Rs 130 million (£745,000), the interchange was completed i ...

in the east, where it meets the

Islamabad Expressway The Islamabad Expressway ( ur, ), sometimes Islamabad Highway) is a major north-south expressway in Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan. The expressway provides quick access between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, connecting the national capital wi ...

and

Murree Road Murree Road (), alternatively known as Benazir Bhutto Road, is a major road that runs from Islamabad and Rawalpindi to Murree in Pakistan. It passes through Rawalpindi's downtown area, and has been a hotspot for various political and social ev ...

. The total length of the road is 10.2 kilometers.

Repairs and renovation

Over the years, several potholes had appeared on the road due to the heavy volume of trucks (from the Islamabad wholesale market and Sabzi Mandi) and buses (from the Pirwadhai bus stand) using it. Regular maintenance and repairs were not carried out in time by the

Capital Development Authority A Capital Development Authority is a special sort of entity found in various countries that is concerned with the municipal development of the capital city or capital territory of that country. Examples include: *Capital Development Authority (Isla ...

. Triple surface treatment repair work was done in 2016–17, but major repairs were still needed. IN December 2019, the Development Working Party of the Capital Development Authority approved the project concept-II for the uplift of the road. It then launched a tender to hire a consultant who would prepare a rehabilitation plan for the road. Four firms responded to the tender: Zeerak International,

National Engineering Services Pakistan The National Engineering Services Pakistan ( ur, , trading name: NESPAK) NES, is a Pakistan-based multinational state-owned enterprise and an energy contractor which provides consulting, construction, engineering, and management services glob ...

(NESPAK), EA Associates, and ACC Consultants, out of which the former was hired in April 2020. It presented its plan in October 2020, which had an estimated cost of Rs. 5.322 billion. In 2021, the government launched a plan to rebuild and widen the dual carriageway by adding two additional lanes on either side at a cost of Rs. 4.9 billion, while Rs. 120 million was earmarked for environmental protection and conservation. The renovation project also envisaged two flyovers, two bridges (at Katarian and Pirwadhai), and seven culverts as well. The

National Logistics Cell The National Logistics Cell (NLC) ( ur, ) is a Pakistani logistics company run by the Pakistan Government. The NLC served as a sole purpose of crises management and logistics emergence on a short notice for the Pakistan Government The Gover ...

was awarded the contract for the project. It is planned to be completed by April 2023.

References

{{Roads in Pakistan Transport in Islamabad Capital Territory Transport in Rawalpindi