Smart City project: Slow vehicular movement, long traffic jams irking commuters

SHAKEELA ANDRABI

SRINAGAR: Non-functional traffic lights, prolonged traffic jams and dusty roads are taking toll on people in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Gridlocks in city centre areas are blamed on haphazard execution of ongoing Smart City project works. While these projects are aimed at improving the city’s infrastructure, these have resulted in significant disruptions to daily life for commuters. Congestion on roads has led to increased travel times and frustration, as commuters are forced to navigate through a maze of diversions and roadblocks. Besides, digging and macadamisation works from Regal Chowk to Jahangir Chowk stretch at Lal Chowk has further added to misery of people. This is not the story of main roads of the city but every link road and other roads are in bad shape.The traffic diversion at the vital intersection at MA Road is leading to long hour traffic jams.Few number of traffic cops are managing this situation manually ,which results hundreds and thousands of vehicles on most busiest road of the cityare waiting for their turn.
Commuters, mostly school-and office-goers, suffer a lot while going to their destinations.”We have to cover a lot of distance just to make a U-turn near J&K Bank headquarters in Dalgate . It is creating a traffic mess and problems for us. We request authorities to open the intersection near Sangemal crossing to ease the suffering of people,” said a commuter.
SSP Traffic Srinagar, told that all the intersections will be opened in the coming days.”So far, people have been cooperative. But due to the ongoing Smart city projects, closure of these intersections was very important,” he said. Traffic officer further said all the intersections including MA road will be opened soon. “We understand problems of people. All the intersections including MA Road will be opened. It is just a matter of a few days,” he said.