LAHORE: Citizens faced serious transportation problems on Thursday evening due to massive traffic jams on the Mall Road and Link Road owing to the failure of the City Traffic Police in implementing a diversion plan in view of road widening between the Mall Road and Jail Road underpass in the provincial capital.
Traffic on the Mall Road, Jail Road, Main Boulevard and its linking arteries was completely choked for many hours, panicking the citizens. The traffic mess began at around 3:30pm – peak hours due to the closing of educational and other institutes – and continued till the filing of this report. Parents, who had left their homes to pick their children from evening schools and colleges, and the working class also remained stuck on the roads for several hours. They blamed the traffic police for this mismanagement and termed them as “incapable of managing the flow of traffic”.
The blockage on the main Canal Road also resulted in traffic jams in Garhi Shahu, Davis Road, Cooper Road, Ferozepur Road and its adjoining roads.
Fawad and Ali who were struck in the traffic jam told Daily Times that besides time wastage, the traffic jam was also causing economic loss in terms of costly fuel because vehicular engines remained running the entire time. Fayaz Ahmed, a senior citizen, said that such jams caused environmental pollution because thousands of vehicles were staying on the roads with any movement, or very slow movement. “This means addition of a lot of smoke, harmful gases and carbon particles into the atmosphere… who is to blame for that?” he queried.
According to the chief traffic officer’s spokesperson, city traffic was not jammed, but its flow was slow due to the diversion at around 3:00pm for heavy machinery working on the main Canal Road between the Mall Road and Jail Road underpass.
