Commuting conundrum: Islamabad Traffic Police fail to plan, announce diversions on main arteries

Kashmir Highway, 9th Avenue face traffic congestion during peak hours.

ISLAMABAD:

As work on the Islamabad section of the metro bus project gets under way, traffic congestion on main arteries has increased.

It also has exposed the Islamabad Traffic Police’s (ITP) preparations to regulate the traffic during the peak hours.

On Friday, commuters, who travelled on the Kashmir Highway and the 9th Avenue, especially those visiting H-9 weekly bazaar, offices and educational institutes had to face worst traffic gridlock, witnessed in recent times, in the morning time and the police had to divert the traffic towards Sufi Tabassum Road in Sector H-8/1. But it did not work and travelers complained about reaching their destinations late taking long detour.

“The police have failed to arrange an alternative traffic plan,” said Muhammad Atif, a commuter.

“Today it took me almost one hour to reach my office whereas previously it would take less than half-an-hour,” he said while talking to The Express Tribune about the delay caused by the piles of rubble strewn on the roads.

“The traffic mess has put to test the efficiency of the traffic police till the completion of the Peshawar Morr flyover,” said Begum Mumtaz Hussain, a visitor to the weekly bazaar. She said that if the police failed to regulate the traffic, scuffles and altercations could not be ruled out.

“Currently, the extension work on the Kashmir Highway is also under way and the ITP has already closed many intersections but now we cannot afford more closures,” said Ahmed Bilal, a student of the International Islamic University Islamabad.

ITP spokesperson Shams Gill claimed that the traffic flow will be better with time. He said that ITP will soon announce diversion plans to ease the traffic flow.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2014.