Bridging the Gap or Deepening the Divide?

The recent announcement by the Jammu and Kashmir Government to construct a pedestrian overbridge (POB) in front of the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, has stirred both curiosity and concern. While the stated intent—to alleviate traffic congestion and enhance pedestrian safety—is laudable, the proposed intervention appears to be a classic case of misplaced priorities, lacking both empirical grounding and contextual sensitivity.

Urban infrastructure must be rooted in evidence, not assumption. Yet, no traffic impact assessment, pedestrian movement study, or congestion analysis has been made public to justify the need for a POB at this critical junction. The absence of such foundational data renders the proposal speculative at best and arbitrary at worst. It risks