RAWALPINDI: The city traffic police chief (CTO) has sought repair and carpeting of the cricket stadium road as the stadium is going to host international cricket matches among Pakistan, Australia and Sri Lanka from Oct 9.
Earlier in September, the City Traffic Police had already brought the attention of deputy commissioner Rawalpindi over the excavation of the busiest Cricket Stadium Road for layingpipeline work on which began about five months ago, and was supposed to be finished within 15 days.
The CTO had asked the Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi to ensure the completion of the work and carpeting of the road as soon as possible to the safety of road users.
In a fresh move, Chief Traffic Officer Farhan Aslam intimated to the deputy commissioner that the water pipeline laying work of WASA on cricket stadium road has been completed on September 28, but the road was left unrepaired.
The Cricket Stadium road is an important corridor which provides access to the Cricket Stadium, hotels, APS School, vehicles show-rooms and the food street. A large number of people traveling from Rawalpindi and Islamabad also use this road. Consequently, the deteriorated condition of the road is causing traffic congestion and inconvenience to the general public.
Most importantly, international cricket matches among the Pakistan, Australia, and Sri-Lanka cricket teams are scheduled in Rawalpindi cricket stadium starting this month.
The movements of cricket teams will take place on the same road. The present poor condition of the road where even a pedestrian cannot walk may cause inconvenience and embarrassment.
The CTO requested the deputy commissioner to direct the officials concernedto repair and re-carpet both sides of the stadium road from double road to 9th Avenue before the commencement of the scheduled cricket event to avoid any inconvenience and embarrassment.
The city traffic police had already requested the Deputy Director WASA twice – once in August, September and most recently to expedite the work and complete the pipeline laying work at the earliest as it was posing a serious risk to the safety of road users, schoolchildren and pedestrians.
On the other hand, the road users, residents of the surrounding areas and traders/shopkeepers are equally disturbed and in distress over the situation.
They were not only the general public, residents of the surrounding areas, even the City Traffic Police Staff have also been facing problems in managing the vehicular movement on the dug up road for the last several months.
The City Traffic Police has issued a comprehensive alternative traffic plan to facilitate the citizens and to keep the parking and traffic flowing on alternative routes during the Pakistan and Sri Lanka T-20 and tri-nation cricket match series at Double Road Cricket Stadium Rawalpindi.
A spokesman for the CTP said on Monday that Pakistan and Sri Lanka will practice at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on October 6 (today). More than 321 officers and traffic wardens will be deployed during the T-20 matches and tri-nation cricket series to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
As part of the traffic plan, the traffic will be temporarily diverted to alternative routes for the shortest possible time during the arrival and departure of cricket teams to the stadium.
Special arrangements have been made to keep the traffic flowing on alternative routes and additional personnel have been deployed.
Parking facilities have been provided at three locations for the convenience of cricket fans, including Civil Aviation Ground, Shaheen Chowk, Shahbaz Sharif Park near Shaheen Chowk and Graduate Degree College Satellite Town.
During the arrival and departure of cricket teams to the stadium, traffic going from Murree Road to Islamabad will be temporarily diverted to alternative routes from 6th Road.
During this time, traffic coming from Islamabad will be diverted from Faizabad to the Expressway, while traffic going from Rawalpindi to Islamabad will enter Islamabad via 6th Road and Syedpur Road.
Traffic coming from Ghausia Chowk will be diverted to Curry Road via Farooq Azam Road. During the match, Stadium Road will be completely closed to traffic from both sides from 9th Avenue Chowk to Double Road.
During this time, traffic coming from Islamabad 9th Avenue will be able to enter Rawalpindi via Faizabad Expressway and IJP Road via Pandora Chungi, Katarian, Carriage Factory, Prudhai Mor, Chak Madad, while traffic going from Rawalpindi to Double Road 9th Avenue Islamabad will enter Islamabad via Murree Road/Faizabad.
On this occasion, Chief Traffic Officer Rawalpindi Farhan Aslam said that in order to facilitate the citizens and keep the traffic flowing on alternative routes during the match, the citizens will be informed about the diversion points and traffic situation on the main highways of Rawalpindi through the official social media pages of the Traffic Police and Radio Station 88.6 so that the citizens do not face any kind of problem.
Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026
