KARACHI, Aug 17: Exhausting traffic jams running into several hours were experienced by thousands of commuters along almost all the main thoroughfares and link roads in Saddar, Clifton, Lyari, Jamshed, Malir and some other towns on Friday.

It was reported that the jam started in Saddar Town with the assembling of people for a political rally in the downtown and the situation aggravated as a fallout. However, there appeared different reasons for traffic jams in other towns.

The rally was taken out by various political parties from Regal Chowk, Saddar, and terminated at the Karachi Press Club. The resultant traffic congestion turned into a gridlock that gripped M.A. Jinnah Road, Shahrah-i-Liaquat, Court Road, Sarwar Shaheed Road, Din Mohammad Wafai Road, Nishtar Road, M.R. Kyani Road, Aiwan-i-Sadar Road, Sharea Faisal and Korangi Road. As a fallout, all broad and narrow arteries in the downtown started clogging with vehicles one after the other. By sunset, even the far off areas like Orangi, Site, Keamari and Lyari witnessed a standstill that rain into several hours.

The link roads of Aga Khan-III Road, Daudpota Road, Shahrah-i-Iraq, Allama Dars Street, Dr Mohammad Hashim Ghauri Road and many arteries in Saddar were among the worst affected thoroughfares.

There were also reports of massive traffic jams on the University Road, Shahrah-i-Quaideen, Liaquatabad, F B Area, Nazimabad and Site areas.

Thousands of people remained stuck in private and public transport vehicles and many of them had to abandon their vehicles to reach their destinations.

The traffic police personnel looked helpless as they had to switch off the traffic signals and regulate traffic manually.

The DIG traffic, Wajid Ali Durrani said his department had already planned diversions and alternative routes in view of the public rally but the narrow roads and heavy traffic was the actual problem leading to such a situation.

“If we close a single point for a while, the situation turns serious,” he pointed out.

He complained of a lack of road sense among people, saying that agile drivers would never oblige others to pass first. Everyone would always be ready to violate the traffic rules to get out of the traffic jam, making the situation worse, he observed.

About the justification for switching off the signals, he said the step was taken to improve the situation by extending or reducing the time allocated to the flow from different directions.