RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — The Rawalpindi Development Authority says the Rawalpindi Ring Road is 78 percent complete and Phase I is targeted for completion in April 2026, Jan. 3, 2026.
Officials say the Rawalpindi Ring Road is designed to divert through-traffic — particularly heavy vehicles — away from central Rawalpindi and improve links between the twin cities and the motorway network. They say a separate Murree Road widening plan is intended to keep congestion from “pinching” back onto the main Rawalpindi-to-Islamabad corridor as the Rawalpindi Ring Road becomes operational.
Rawalpindi Ring Road update: 78% done, interchanges and the April target
Rawalpindi Development Authority Director General Kinza Murtaza shared the construction figure and timeline during a New Year’s press briefing at the Rawalpindi Press Club, The Express Tribune reported. Murtaza also said a Phase II study has begun.
Officials have described Phase I of the Rawalpindi Ring Road as a 38.3-kilometer (23.8-mile) corridor running from Banth on the Grand Trunk Road near Rawat to the Thalian Interchange on the M-2, with five interchanges planned along the route.
In a separate account of the same briefing, ProPakistani reported that the Rawalpindi Ring Road is intended to link the M-2 motorway and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor route to Margalla Avenue via the Thalian Interchange. Officials have said the corridor is planned to include a bus and truck terminal and a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, and that large buses would be restricted from going beyond T-Chowk under the traffic plan being discussed.
While the latest public target is April 2026, deadlines and budgets have shifted before. In mid-December, The Express Tribune reported that Phase I completion was being discussed for March 31, 2026, with the overall project cost rising to 50 billion rupees amid scope changes tied to the Thalian Interchange and land acquisition. The moving dates highlight what commuters will watch most closely in coming weeks: interchange work, merging lanes and traffic management — not just road carpeting.
Murree Road widening plan tied to Rawalpindi Ring Road operations
Murtaza has also outlined a widening plan for Murree Road — an added 15 feet on each side, or about 30 feet in total — describing it as preparation for the traffic load expected once the Rawalpindi Ring Road becomes operational, according to another ProPakistani report.
As previously detailed by Dawn, the authority has drafted a roughly 9 billion-rupee package that includes rehabilitation between Saddar and Faizabad and new service lanes between Liaquat Bagh and Chandni Chowk. Officials told the newspaper that design work would be finalized after funds are released and that surveys are under way to assess land acquisition needs on both sides of Murree Road.
Continuity: years of revisions and delays behind today’s deadline
The Rawalpindi Ring Road has been revised and re-timed for years. In December 2024, after the federal Central Development Working Party approved a revised PC-1, Murtaza called it a milestone and said, “This revised plan ensures that RRR will meet the growing transportation needs of the area,” The Express Tribune reported.
By August 2025, monsoon rains and unresolved questions about how traffic would merge at Thalian were among the factors slowing work, Dawn reported, underscoring why weather and coordination at major junctions can be as consequential as budgets and contracts.
For residents, the coming months will be a practical test of whether the Rawalpindi Ring Road opens with workable traffic management — and whether the Murree Road widening plan can move from designs and surveys into funded construction without prolonged disruption along one of the city’s busiest commercial and commuter corridors.
