RAWALPINDI: After completion of the remodeling of Marrir Chowk, Murree Road became signal free from Saddar to Faizabad on Monday.

However, motorcycle workshops set up on footpaths along Murree Road and even on its sides are still disrupting smooth flow of traffic on the busy artery.

A traffic police spokesman said Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Rai Mazhar Iqbal had initiated the remodeling of Marrir Chowk to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow from Saddar to Faizabad on Murree Road. Another benefit of making the road single free is that the citizens are being monitored live with the help of cameras installed at different points.

The traffic police and the RDA engineers carried out the remodeling of Marrir Chowk.

After the remodeling, traffic coming from Kamran Market is not allowed to cross Marrir Chowk to take Rashid Minhas Road. Instead, it will take a left turn towards Murree Road to move towards Kutchery after taking a turn near Leh Bridge.

Traffic coming from Kutchery Chowk and intended to move towards Liaquat Bagh is given a clear way as vehicles from Kamran Market will not be allowed to cross and will be turned to the left. Similarly, traffic coming from Kutchery Chowk and intended to move towards Kamran Market will have to take a left turn towards Saddar and then take a u-turn.

In April, traffic engineers and the police had made fish belly u-turns at Liaquat Bagh, St Mary’s School and near Marrir Chowk by closing the busiest Marrir Chowk to make Murree Road signal-free. However, after realising that the closure of Marrir Chowk did not facilitate the motorists, they decided to reopen the roundabout.

Fish-belly u-turns were also constructed near Leh Bridge on Murree Road and at the Saddar side of Marrir Chowk. In addition, the Marrir Chowk crossing was closed and motorists coming from Kutchery Chowk had to take a left turn towards Saddar to reach the fish-belly u-turn and move to Liaquat Bagh. The chief traffic officer directed to remove the fish-belly u-turns from Marrir Chowk and regulate traffic in the previous manner.

However, the Liaquat Bagh crossing remained closed as it was giving good results.

The spokesman said majority of motorists satisfied with the latest changes made by traffic police. However, they said workshops set up on footpaths and at different points on Murree Road were still hampering smooth flow of traffic.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2021