The city roads witnessed traffic congestion on Monday owing to ongoing patchwork on different arteries in the provincial capital. Many of the roads, declared as model, have been dug up for the carpeting purposes for the last some days; therefore, vehicles were diverted to alternative routes, causing traffic mess in the residential areas and service roads. The rehabilitation works started on Empress Road, Model Town Link Road, Shalimar Road, Circular Road, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisal Town Road, Shahrah-e-Fatima Jinnah and others simultaneously locking the city in a motors grid.
Meanwhile, the Canal Road at Jail Road Underpass was also closed for all traffic since Sunday night for the patch work and the long rows of vehicles remained stranded for hours at Canal Road. The traffic mess persisted on one of main arteries of city hours after the opening of underpass on completion of rehabilitation work. According to the officials of City Traffic Police (CTP), the traffic was slow since afternoon till late night on Egerton Road, Shah Jamal Road, Zahoor Elahi Road, Jail Road, Ferozepur Road from Qartaba Chowk to Muslim Town, The Mall and Wahdat Road.
A press release says Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Syed Mubeen Ahmad visited the under-construction roads to check traffic flow in the city. CTO directed traffic wardens and traffic inspectors to effectively control the traffic and facilitate citizens by informing them about traffic diversions, the statement stated. The CTO has appointed more traffic wardens near Shimla Pahari and provided them with barriers to control the traffic in case of protests at the Lahore Press Club, the press release further read.
