LAHORE/OKARA: Motorists and other commuters traveling on the National Highway have been facing a great deal of inconvenience for the last six months or so because of ongoing construction work on Habibabad (Wanradahram) overhead bridge near Okara.

Long queues of vehicles are seen trapped for hours at the site due to delay in completion of construction of the new bridge which will replace decades-old poorly-designed structure.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) got started the construction of new bridge due to heavy traffic load on the old one around six months ago.

The contractor, a sister organisation of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO), has occupied two out of three lanes of the GT Road from Lahore to Okara by dumping the construction material there.

Thousands of Okara-bound vehicles have to pass through a single road where, especially in night hours, more than two kilometer long queues of vehicles are witnessed, starting from Pattoki toll plaza.

These traffic blockades are reportedly also resulting in highway robberies and after protests by transport owners and commuters Kasur police have deputed a team, particularly at night, to check such incidents.

Locals, including businessmen, students, ambulance drivers and others told Dawn that their journey to Okara from Lahore took four hours due to the construction work. They said it appears that neither the NHA nor the highway police (NH&MP) had planned diversions to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

They demanded Punjab chief minister should take immediate notice of the issue to provide them relief.

General Manager (Construction), Central Zone, Muhammad Naveed Wahla, said breakdown of vehicles at the old bridge was the major cause of traffic congestion.

Admitting the construction work was creating some problems for commuters, he said, “The traffic flow is extraordinary on the National Highways and the disruption is not because of dumping construction material on a section of the road.

The rain has recently caused some slush on the road which was removed by the NHA.”

Mr Wahla said the construction work that was going on around-the-clock started around four months ago and was projected to be completed in a year. “The NHA is doing all out efforts to get it completed as soon as possible. With its completion motorists will get better road facility,” he added.

NH&MP spokesman Imran Ahmad Shah told Dawn that at the start of the bridge on the south side and its end on north the road had been narrowed down to one lane on a stretch of 200 meters. He said during peak rush hours between 6pm to 11pm the traffic got chocked on that stretch. If any vehicle got broke down on the stretch it further aggravated the situation, he added.

He claimed during rush hours it took around 10 to 15 minutes for a vehicle to cross the troubled stretch of 200 meters.

Shah said in order to maintain smooth traffic flow static as well as patrol mobiles had been deputed on the stretch round-the-clock. He said filling of ditches in the troubled stretch had also been done to facilitate heavy vehicular traffic, adding widening of road on south side was in progress.

He said initially the NHA had claimed the construction work would complete by March 28.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

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