Various commuting problems and a lack of traffic planning have resulted in frequent traffic jams on Main Boulevard, Garden Town, Pakistan Today has learnt. After the ground-breaking for the Kalma Chowk Flyover Project and other connecting projects, traffic jams are a common sight on Usmani Road, even the presence of traffic controllers does not help ease the situation. The junction has been demolished and is in a worn-out condition. Long queues of cars are seen on all sides of the junction. Traffic coming from all directions towards the Season Chowk is seen piled up near the demolished junction. Vehicles pouring in from the Campus Underpass, Barkat Market and Faisal Town go though intense traffic jams due to slow passage of traffic.
The Main Boulevard, Garden Town is being widened at the moment to face the massive amount of cars coming in from the Kalma Chowk Underpass and Flyover. Due to widening of the road, commuters are seen stuck in bottlenecks especially near the Khayban-e-Jamia Road Junction also known as the Seasons Chowk adjacent to the Punjab University (PU) New Campus. The Khayaban-e-Jamia is also going through a substantial makeover, as the artery is being widened to equalise the traffic flow from the Kalma Chowk sector until the PU New Campus.
The Usmani Road remains busy all day long and is the only major road other than Canal Bank Road, which connects the Kalma Chowk sector to densely populated areas such as Johar Town, WAPDA Town, Faisal Town, Township, Valencia, Judiciary Colony and others. The road is comparatively thin, which accommodates a huge number of commuters traveling everyday. Commuters expressed concern over the growing poor traffic condition. “It takes me five minutes to travel from Model Town D-Block to Marian Chowk and it takes 45 minutes to reach the Campus from here”, Fahad Sohail, a resident of Model Town said. He said that the traffic problem seems unsolvable. “This road should be widened too, the Punjab government should buy land from the PU to expand the road’s width”, he added.
“The traffic problem seems to be growing, as the Kalma Chowk project gains momentum”, Ali Asghar, a resident of A-Block Model Town said. He said that commuting problems on this road are not new and the government has failed to find a suitable solution until now.
Muzamil, a resident of Johar Town, said that he tries to avoid this patch on any cost. “I try taking the Canal Road route to anywhere, whenever I come on this road I end up stuck in a traffic jam” he added. Traffic Superintendent of Police (SP) Zafar Cheema, portraying himself as powerless, said that the department is doing its best in this regard. “But if there is any chance of improvement, we will do it”, he said. He said that traffic could not be restored to it normal pace until construction was concluded.
