LAHORE, Aug 18: Closure of several roads due to construction work on The Mall underpass and ill-planned alternative arrangements are causing numerous problems for motorists.

The construction company and the city traffic police have barricaded many roads leading to The Mall and have deployed force to divert the traffic.

The point at the canal (on The Mall) where the underpass is being constructed is estimated to have over 50,000-vehicle load daily. All this traffic is now being diverted to other roads where the traffic has increased manifold, causing hours long snarls.

The diversions have also changed composition of the traffic flow on several roads, forcing the motorists to spend hours before reaching their destinations.

One of the reasons for this situation is the fact that all the roads have been closed unlike it was practised in the past when the authorities used to block only one way at the site of construction, leaving the other open for all traffic.

Frequent traffic jumbles are seen on the Davis Road, Allama Iqbal Road at Garhi Shahu, Mozang Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Lawrence Road, Jail Road, The Mall, Canal Bank Road, Egerton Road, and many link roads in the central Lahore.

As the traffic signals have not been operational on all the blocked roads and those being used as alternatives are manned by traffic police manually handling the traffic. Exchange of harsh words between the motorists and the police has become a usual sight.

Those residing in and around the localities where the roads have been blocked are bearing the brunt of the mismanagement. They not only have to take a lot of extra time in going for daily vocations, but have to bear hazardous noise and smoke pollution. “I have strictly asked my son not to go outside unless this fuss is over,” Naeem Qaisar, a resident of Garhi Shahu, said.

He said he had to alter his schedule to adjust with the traffic. “This is really painful, and the responsible authorities should make some alternative arrangements,” he said.