All the roads surrounding Faizabad, situated at the conjunction of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, remain choked for hours due to unorganized traffic.
According to people, who cannot avoid the point, it takes a lot of time to pass the area. Sometimes, they have to spend half-an-hour at Faizabad, particularly in the rush hours of morning and evening.
They said IJ Principal Road meet at Faizabad with Rawalpindi city’s Benazir Bhutto Road (commonly known as Murree Road) and Islamabad Expressway. Heavy traffic from and to, down-country, to the two cities markets and to up-country, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa use this road. Moreover, many inter-city bus terminals are functioning at Faizabad further contributing to the traffic.
Besides, illegal parking of vehicles such as taxis, coaches, and rickshaws along the two sides of the road was a common practice, they added.
They said a few traffic personnel are deputed, but they face difficulty to regulate the traffic.
Aslam Khan, who travels daily on IJP Road, said the road was built for normal transport, but due to security concerns, the heavy vehicles which once used Kashmir Road (in Islamabad) had been diverted to it, causing heavy traffic jams.
The metro bus service project, which has proved very beneficial to the commuters, but no steps have been taken to rebuild or repair the IJP Road, particularly at Faizabad, where it always remains fishy. Furthermore the condition of road at the flyover is even more disturbing where huge patches have emerged and they call for urgent attention of the road maintenance wing of the CDA.
Therefore the bumpy road with bus terminals result in heavy rush at Faizabad, sometimes causing loss of commuters’ lives, said Abrar.
The people of the cities have urged the CDA to take urgent measures for reconstruction of IJP Road, besides removal of “illegal” bus terminals for smooth traffic flow.
