RAWALPINDI has been virtually choked because of traffic density during rush hours. The strategically placed security checkpoints on traffic-heavy entry and exit points, have further exacerbated the mayhem. The absence of a mass public transport system is also adding to traffic woes with hapless commuters getting stuck in diurnal traffic jams.

The previous government had promised to extend a signal-free corridor on Islamabad Expressway linking Islamabad with Rawat, but after the change of government, the project seems to have ground to a halt.

On Grand Trunk Road end, the bridge on River Sawan linking Bahria/DHA and Rawat with Pindi witnesses major traffic bottleneck and jams that are miles long owing to private schools that fail to prevent parking on the main highway.

There is a need for an integrated solution. This needs an early construction of a ring road, resolution of schools’ traffic on GT road, construction of overpass on Fauji Foundation Hospital/DHA roundabout, widening the Sawan bridge, and completion of a signal-free corridor of Islamabad Expressway till Rawat. This will considerably reduce the perennial traffic jams in the city.

Brig(retd) Raashid Wali Janjua

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2018