islamabad - The persistent traffic jams on the Islamabad Highway, the main artery of the twin cities, continue to test the nerves of hapless motorists especially during the rush hours.
The situation becomes worse due to unruly movement of heavy vehicles, vying with each other to occupy the three-lane road after crossing the Koral chowk. In the afternoon, long queues of vehicles were seen caught in the tangled maze of trucks and loaders. The residents living in different residential societies and who regularly shuffle between their homes and the main city complained that utter disregard for the traffic laws and the blatant lane violations by the drivers of heavy vehicles have turned their home-bound dash a miserable experience and that too on the daily basis.
The loaded heavy vehicles were witnessed occupying all lanes from Gulberg housing society upto the U-turn near Soan garden society.
“All hell breaks loose at night when these slow moving monsters in a bid to take lead with each other put the lives of other motorists and bike riders in peril,” Zeeshan Kamil, a resident of Pakistan town told APP on Sunday. Muhammad Aslam, a resident of Media town, said that the frequent breaking down of heavy vehicles on the Highway further aggravated the dismal situation.
Moreover, the closure of U-turn near the PWD road entrance is the other major hurdle in the smooth flow of heavy traffic. The Islamabad Traffic police had shifted the U-turn and traffic signal, thus depriving the residents of PWD, Police Foundation, Doctors town, Media town, Pakistan town and Bahria town from a direct and hassle free entry into their societies. Residents were of the opinion that instead of resulting in the smooth flow of traffic on the expressway, the step added to their unending woes. They were of the view that regular long duration traffic clogs were not only a wastage of precious time but also of fuel as the motorists were being stuck in this bedlam near the U-turn. The diversion lane is occupied by heavy vehicles and trucks, thus hampering smooth flow of the traffic,” Azmat Abbasi, a resident of Police Foundation said.
Mujtaba Shah, a jittery businessman in PWD, said the move to relocate the U-turn did notp yield results but rather multiplied woes of the commuters. The traffic cops deployed on this road were seen helpless to marshal the heavy vehicular movement, he added. An ITP officer marshalling the traffic flow near PWD maintained that the diversion was relocated to avoid traffic accidents and control the vehicular movements. The step was taken on the direction of former ITP high ups, he added, however, he could not respond to a query to ensure plying of heavy vehicles on their designated lanes. The concerned authorities of Capital Development Authority (CDA) tasked with expansion and construction of Islamabad Highway from Faizabad to Rawat were asked by the residents to immediately make arrangements for the re-opening of U-turn in front of PWD entrance, besides installing a pedestrian bridge, proper signals and fixing of cats eyes to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
