Travelling on Boulevard Road turns into nightmare for commuters

Srinagar, June 29: Commuters are facing a tough time due to massive traffic jams on Boulevard Road triggered by slow pace of ongoing Smart City works on the busy route.

The lingering developmental work at Nishat Garden Road is seen as major bottleneck for smooth vehicular movement. Due to huge traffic of tourist vehicles and local commuters, driving through the area has become an arduous task for commuters.

“We are continuously facing traffic jams on Boulevard Road. The issue has been made worse by the sluggish pace of Smart City works. On daily basis, there is some or the other work going on, which creates issues for us. Over the past few months, we have been navigating construction material, barricades, and other hindrances to reach our destinations,” Danish Mir, a commuter, said.

The Boulevard Road stretch is the main road link between many areas of the city centre, and they are suffering immensely due to slow work. They said the locals in areas like Ishber, Nishat, Barne, Shalimar, Harwan, New Theed, Chandpora, Tailbal, Darbagh, and adjoining areas suffer due to traffic jams.

“Travel on Boulevard has become nightmare for commuters. As the tourist vehicles make stops to drop and pick up tourists, that chokes the whole road. The issue is more severe due to ongoing Smart City works. We appeal to the authorities to ensure that the work is completed soon so that people don’t suffer,” said a local.

They said that due to the continuous traffic jams on Boulevard, essential services like ambulances and school buses get stuck, creating issues.

“On weekends, we are unable to move out due to traffic jams. The road is already busy due to multiple tourist places falling on the stretch, and the slow smart city work is adding to the issue. This is also hampering movement of essential vehicles,” said a local.

CEO of Srinagar Smart City did not answer multiple calls from this reporter for his comments.