Traffic jams on Murree Road near Bhara Kahu are a routine matter, making life of the residents a hell, which is mainly caused by ill-planned and unregulated commercial buildings coupled with massive encroachments on both sides of the road.
In order to ease the traffic mess, a pedestrian bridge at Athal Chowk was constructed; however it served the purpose little, because the residents of the locality are still facing problems due to traffic mess on Murree Road.
Talking to Pakistan Today, residents of the area complained that a important route to Azad Kashmir, Murree and other areas was always clogged up due to a phenomenal and ill-planned increase in the population of Bhara Kahu.
The bridge construction could not ensure smooth flow of traffic and easy crossing of commuters, as people rarely used the bridge because it took too much time because of its length due to which people preferred to cross the road directly.
They said that the government instead of easing the public facing due to massive traffic jams, further augmented their woes due to blockage of U-turn at various places and the constant VIP movements.
Rana Shahid, a university student, told this scribe that the ill-thought-out blocking at various points by erecting blockades has even worsen the traffic mess.
Rana said that he lived near Bazar Stop, but he had to use the U-turn at Joggi stop because the U-turns near Bazar Stop were blocked that further added to their woes rather to ease the commuters.
Narrating his ordeal, Malik Isar, another resident of Bhara Kahu, said that the traffic jams have made their life a hell because it not only increased their petrol expenditures, but it often delayed their children to reach schools on time.
Israr said that sometimes it became so painful that he thought it would have been better to leave a car with traffic warden and went to home on foot.
“The government is delaying the extension of the much-needed Bhara Kahu road unknowingly, because if it is completed this would greatly relieve a lot of pressure on Bhara Kahu,” he added.
Faroz Khan said that they kept telling since long that “Bhara Kahu” bypass on Murree Road would be constructed but nothing could be seen on ground.
He said that the step-motherly treatment with dwellers of the area should be stopped, as they were given lollipop of flyover to ease the traffic problems, but an ill-planned pedestrian bridge has been set up, which would be obviously affected due to the ongoing road extension project.
He went on saying that similarly; they were made fool with lollipop of construction of a bypass from Shahdara Stop to the Women’s College Stop bypassing the congested locality of Bhara Kahu; however the dream has yet to come true.
Another resident was of the view that they pinned some hope with timely construction of the bypass when proposal was floated to name the bypass as “Nawaz Sharif Bypass”; however even than no progress has been made.
Traffic police official, when asked about the blockage of U-turns, he said that all such steps were being taken to ensure traffic flow, because too many U-turns were also causing traffic jams.
He, however, said that now the U-turn near Bazaar Stop has been opened because they realized the people really suffered when they took U-turn at Joggy stop.
When contacted, Capital Development Authority (CDA) spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said that various projects were underway in Bhara Kahu to ease the traffic woes including the extension of the road.
However, when asked about the much-trumpeted Bhara Kahu bypass, he said that the project was in an initial stage and no progress has been made so far, because the feasibility report of the project has yet to be prepared.
To a question about the pedestrian bridge at Athal Chowk, he said that the bridge would not be removed due to road extension, but it would be adjusted accordingly.