Haphazard traffic on Murree Road irks motorists

RAWALPINDI:

Students of the garrison city have demanded the City Traffic Police (CTP) to ensure smooth traffic management during peak school timings on Murree Road as haphazard and uncontrolled vehicular traffic was putting their risk.

A large number of vehicles enter into the metropolis to reach the federal capital on a daily basis that was putting unprecedented pressure on the only major artery passing through the city and the most frequently used thoroughfare to travel between the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The CTP has recently turned the entire Murree Road into a signal-free corridor after completion of the remodelling of Marrir Chowk, from Saddar to Faizabad whereas a large number of unaccounted motorbikes, vehicles, buses and mini trucks that left the only connecting artery jam-packed throughout the day.

There are many private and government-run schools situated along the Murree Road where the students used to reach school taking risks by crossing through a pedestrian bridge or directly crossing the Murree Road.

There was massive traffic at school timings and no police warden was found regulating the traffic flow that created choked mobility for hours, a student Muhammad Abdullah said.

A traffic police spokesman said the former CTO Rai Mazhar Iqbal had initiated the remodelling of Marrir Chowk to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow from Saddar to Faizabad on Murree Road.

In addition, the Marrir Chowk crossing was closed and motorists coming from Kutchery Chowk had to take a left turn towards Saddar to reach the fish-belly U-turn and move to Liaquat Bagh.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2021.