Ghanta Ghar, Charsadda Road, Pajaggi Road, Phandu Road, Dabgari, Ramdas, Bhanamari, Civil Quarters and Kohat Road up to Scheme Chowk. Even Ring Road is now witnessing daily traffic jams.
The delay in construction of roads has further added to the problem.District Nazim Peshawar Mohammad Asim Khan recently expressed anger over the delay in construction of the Canal Road that provides an alternate route for those moving within the city as well as travel to the southern districts, Fata, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.
A bridge on the Canal Road had caved in almost a year back but the government has failed to reconstruct it. Also, the reconstruction work on the Canal Road from Bara Road to Ring Road is going on at a snail’s pace, irking thousands of commuters.
“Due to the blockade of Sher Shah Suri Road in FC Chowk and Nauthia, I used to divert near the Governor House through an overhead bridge to take the Railway Road and then link roads to reach Qayyum Stadium in Saddar,” said motorcyclist Aftab Ahmad.
Motorcycles are presently the only vehicles that can move on the city roads due to everyday blockade and traffic jams. As most of the traffic is diverted to the Ring Road, a number of road accidents are being reported from there because no traffic police is deployed there.
The absence of the traffic cops or the deployment of ill-trained policemen at Ring Road, Kohat Road Chowk further added to the traffic jam, especially irking thousands of those travelling to Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan via the Indus Highway.
The road is mostly blocked as the median between the two lanes have been removed by the authorities and nobody bothered to reconstruct it so traffic coming from the opposite lane doesn’t violate the lane. “The U-turns on Ring Road must be converted into the fish bellies like those on GT Road and University Road so the ratio of accidents on this route are reduced,” said a commuter.
Despite increase in road accidents, no one has paid any heed to improve the traffic system by deployment of the traffic cops and installing speed bumps ahead of U-turns or converting it into fish bellies so that no vehicle is intercepted.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Traffic Peshawar Riaz Ahmad said well trained traffic sergeants are properly deployed all over the city. “We have sufficient deployment of trained cops but the problem erupts due to protests by one or the other group for long time, the ongoing construction work in the Phase-III Chowk of Hayatabad and blocking the road for VIP movement and slow movement at checking points at various points,” added Riaz Ahmad.
The official said that the movement of the traffic has also affected after narrowing the road between Hayatabad and Karkhano after installation of an explosives scanner. “The situation will improve with the construction of Hayatabad Flyover, Canal Road and if the scanner is installed on the roadside and traffic is diverted for it,” added SP Traffic.
Riaz Ahmad also complained of lack of awareness among the motorists who block the opposite lane in case of any issue and permanently block both sides of the road. “We are delivering lectures in universities, colleges and schools to create awareness about traffic rules and rights of other motorists and pedestrians,” added the SP Traffic.