TransKarachi has explained why the newly opened elevated U-turn on Karachi’s University Road is as narrow as it is, saying the road simply does not have room for anything wider. The clarification, issued in a joint statement, comes days after the structure opened to traffic and drew criticism from motorists over its tight single-lane layout.
The U-turn, known as KU Elevated U-Turn 2, is the first elevated U-turn to open on University Road under the Karachi BRT Red Line project. It was opened on November 5 on the directives of Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, and it is meant to let motorists travelling from Safoora turn back towards the University of Karachi without cutting across the main corridor. It is meant to ease congestion, but photographs of the narrow structure soon had drivers questioning whether it was wide enough to work safely.
The structure sits on a corridor that has been under construction for more than four years. The Red Line is a 26.6-kilometre bus rapid transit route running from Malir Halt to Numaish, and onward to Tower, through Safoora and University Road. It is being built by TransKarachi, a public sector company set up by the Sindh government, with funding support from the Asian Development Bank, and it is meant to serve around 1.5 million people living near its stations. Work began in March 2022, but delays have pushed the main corridor’s completion target to December 2026 and the overall project deadline to June 2028, while the second construction lot saw its contract terminated in April 2026 over slow progress. Against that troubled history, every new piece of the project is watched closely, and this U-turn was no exception.
University Road Has Limited Space
Officials said the available road space has to accommodate several facilities at the same time, and that is what decided the U-turn’s dimensions. The road must carry a main carriageway with three lanes on each side, the dedicated BRT corridor running down the middle, service roads, car parking, cycling tracks and other infrastructure. Once all of those are fitted in, there is very little room left, and the U-turn had to be built within whatever space remained. The statement said the U-turn was designed to applicable international standards, taking into account existing traffic and the limited space along University Road.
U-Turn Designed for Cars and Motorcycles
The elevated U-turn has been designed to allow one car and one motorcycle to travel side by side, according to the statement. Officials added that if a car breaks down or stalls on the U-turn, another car should still have enough room to pass it. The ramps have a clear width of five metres, while the turning sections are six metres wide, and those measurements are the basis of the claim that the structure will not seize up the first time a vehicle stops on it. Whether that holds in practice will be tested quickly, since one stalled car on a raised turn can bring University Road traffic to a standstill.
Vehicles Will Merge Directly into Traffic
Vehicles descending from the elevated U-turn will merge directly into the existing three-lane traffic flow on University Road, and this is the part of the design likely to draw the closest attention from drivers. Authorities said they could not provide a separate merging lane because of the same space constraints that shaped the rest of the structure. Drivers will have to judge a gap in three lanes of moving traffic and join it as they come down, which will demand patience on a road where buses, cars, motorcycles and rickshaws already compete for space.
Buses Up to 12 Metres Can Use U-Turn
TransKarachi said the dimensions of the U-turn have been designed to accommodate cars as well as buses measuring up to 12 metres in length, so the structure is not limited to small vehicles. Authorities have also imposed a maximum speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour on vehicles using the elevated U-turn, a restriction intended to ensure safer movement and easier manoeuvring where the turning sections are tight and the margin for error is small. A low limit makes sense on a narrow elevated turn, but only if it is observed, and enforcement on University Road has never been easy.
Sindh Govt Defends Project Design
The Sindh government said it remains committed to safe and efficient transport infrastructure that reduces inconvenience for commuters, and the clarification presents the project as a careful compromise rather than a mistake. University Road has been a construction site for years and the Red Line has missed several completion dates, so public patience is thin. If the U-turn eases the daily snarl around Safoora and the university, the criticism will fade and the structure will simply become part of the road. If it does not, the debate over its width will return with the added weight of every other delay on the corridor. For now, TransKarachi has set out its case: the road left no room for a wider turn. The coming weeks of peak-hour traffic will decide whether that case holds.
