The traffic mess at Marrir Chowk. PHOTO: AGHA MEHROZ/ EXPRESS
The alternate traffic plan devised by the city traffic police to allow for work on widening the intersection beneath the old railway bridge led to massive traffic jams at Marrir Chowk on Monday.
The alternate route arrangements seem to have caused more harm than good for commuters and the traffic managers themselves as long queues of vehicles were seen on Benazir Bhutto Road.
Traffic flow only got messier on Rashid Minhas Road, as vehicles coming from Liaqat Bagh towards Saddar were had to using the road to take U-turns on to BB Road.
The messiest point on BB Road was the U-turn near Saint John’s School, where cars coming to and from Saddar were trapped. The turn was also used for traffic coming from Kamran Market via Denny’s School Road and from the district courts going towards Liaqat Bagh.
The authorities have widened the U-turn, but this created more problems as loaded vehicles got stuck in the widened area and further slowed the flow of vehicles.
The closure of two roads linking BB road with Kamran Market and the district courts caused more trouble.
A traffic warden deputed at the messy chowk said the diversions had been made to easy pressure at Marir Chowk to allow uninterrupted construction work, but it has created new headaches for traffic managers.
On the other hand, a meeting on the issue in the office of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zaffar expressed satisfaction with the diversions at the Marrir Chowk.
The meeting was also attended by City Police Officer Azhar Hameed Khokhar, Chief Traffic Officer Ishtiaq Shah, and Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Director General Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed.
RDA Engineering Deputy Director Ummer Farooq, who is supervising the ongoing work, said construction of the bridge along the railway bridge would be complete by February 28 as the only work left was laying iron guarders on the pillars.
After completion, trains would be diverted on to the new bridge, the RDA official said.
Soon after the diversion of the train track, work on the cantonment side of the bridge would start and should be completed by April 15.
The Rs500 million BB Road widening project started in November last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2013.
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