islamabad - When work started two years ago on Islamabad Signal Free Corridor, people residing along the Expressway from Koral Chowk to Rawat took a sigh of relief with a desire of smooth travelling on a widened road.
But their desires were crushed when all of a sudden, the work was stopped on the project apparently due to the paucity of funds and adversities plagued the people in the form of accidents and frequent traffic blockage on one of the busiest roads in the capital.
It sucks the mind and heart of commuters when they travel from Gulberg Chowk to Rawat, wasting their precious time and creating havoc among vehicles in a massive ‘clutch, brake and accelerator’ trio.
Travelling on this road is nonetheless a painstaking exercise everyday for the people who had shifted to the suburbs of the capital in a quest to avoid traffic jams. Occupying any of the three lanes of this dilapidated road during peak rush hours is a nuisance itself but lethargy of traffic police is another feather to the problem.
On Tuesday, excessive traffic jam and apathy of Islamabad Traffic Police was witnessed on Islamabad Express Way as well as bursting of truck tyres in the middle of the road, caused lot of problems to commuters who were travelling on the way to reach offices, businesses and for other places in the capital city.
It was quite surprising for all the commuters and citizens of the twin-cites that the Islamabad Traffic Police had no arrangements to remove the truck from the middle of the road to clear the way.
The traffic jam started around 7:45 when two tyres of a truck on their way to Faizabad burst suddenly near the Gulberg Intersection, blocking the entire traffic heading towards Faisal Avenue.
The Islamabad Traffic Police virtually failed to streamline the traffic and remove the truck from this jugular highway, which is the main thoroughfare connecting the Islamabad City with the Grand Trunk Road.
“The traffic jam was caused due to bursting of tyres near Gulberg Intersection,” confirmed a senior police official while talking to APP and asserted that the police had enhanced the deployment of its personnel at the spot to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the road.
He said that the Islamabad Traffic Police had also called a motor mechanic to remove the mechanical fault of the truck to remove it from the middle of the road and ensure smooth flow of traffic.
Commuters travelling on the highway expressed anguish over the lack of arrangements to deal with such emergencies.
“We were stuck in the middle of the road for hours, during the scorching heat , there were no arrangements made by the traffic police to move the truck from the road which had caused the traffic blockage,” said Aftab Zahoor, a commuter who was stuck in the traffic jam.
Another commuter Ahmed who was travelling on the same road said that the journey which could be covered in just 10 minutes takes hours for commuters who travel on the thoroughfare every day.