Mehran Highway


Mehran Highway is a provincially maintained highway in Sindh that extends from Khairpur to Nawabshah. The route is generally rural, passing near several communities including Daur and Bandhi in Shaheed Benazir Abad District and Faiz Ganj, Kot Lalu, Thari Mirwah and Ranipur in Khairpur District. The route is long with a speed limit of, except within towns, where the speed limit is reduced to. Total travel time is approximately 1 hour 58 minutes. The northern terminus merges with the N-5 National Highway while the southern terminus merges with N-305 National Highway.

History

Prior to reconstruction of the Mehran Highway, the route was known as Kumb–Nawabshah Road. Reconstruction of the road had been pending for several years due to red tape and incomplete construction sections, leading to heavy environmental pollution. The Sindh Highways Department completed reconstruction in June 2015 and was funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Accidents

The Mehran Highway is a high volume traffic road, as it connects Nawabshah and Khairpur districts and offers a shortcut to and from Sukkur. Many heavy transport vehicles which are traveling to and from Karachi to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir with Karachi often use this 2 lane highway to avoid the N-5 National Highway and tool tax. Due to those heavy vehicles and commuter buses and coaches passing through Mehran highway many deadly accidents have taken place on several occasions in the past years. On 20 August 2013, a passenger bus from Uch Sharif overturned in Thari Mirwah, killing 6 passengers. On 24 August 2014 a passenger bus traveling southbound from Punjab to Karachi collided at with a van traveling northbound to Thari Mirwah at Kot Lalu killing 10 passengers and injuring 11 others. All deceased were residents of Thari Mirwah.