KARACHI: The closure of two crucial flood-prone routes Korangi Crossing over the Malir River and the EBM Causeway plunged Karachi into a traffic nightmare on Thursday, paralysing movement across the city from dawn till late night.
What began as routine morning commutes quickly turned into hours-long ordeals, as major arteries including Korangi Road, Qayyumabad Chowrangi, Jam Sadiq Bridge, Baloch Colony Expressway, Brooks Chowrangi, and Defence Signal choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Endless lines of cars, rickshaws, and motorbikes stretched for kilometres, leaving thousands stranded with little hope of reaching their destinations on time.
For many, even crossing roads on foot became an ordeal. Commuters heading to work or school found themselves trapped in immovable traffic, visibly exhausted and frustrated as the hours ticked by. Some motorcyclists, desperate to escape the standstill, resorted to dragging their bikes across narrow service lanes and side paths.
Public transport came to a grinding halt, with large groups of people, including women and children, stranded at Qayyumabad Chowrangi in search of buses or vans that never arrived. The entire corridor from Baloch Colony Expressway to Qayyumabad remained jam-packed, with connecting roads like the KPT Interchange also clogged beyond capacity.
Angry citizens pointed fingers at the city’s traffic management, accusing authorities of failing to control the situation or provide workable alternatives. “It feels like no one planned for this,” said one commuter. “We wasted hours, fuel, and energy, while traffic police just watched.”
The chaos not only highlighted Karachi’s fragile infrastructure but also exposed glaring gaps in disaster preparedness. With every spell of heavy rain and urban flooding, the city finds itself crippled, leaving residents to shoulder the burden of poor planning, clogged roads, and ineffective traffic control.
