Srinagar, Sep 13 (KNO): The Bemina-Bypass road, one of Srinagar’s most vital traffic links connecting the Children’s Hospital, SKIMS Bemina and several government offices to the NH-44 corridor—continues to remain clogged with traffic throughout the day, causing daily chaos for commuters and patients.
Locals from the area said the stretch from Bemina Crossing (Tattoo Ground) to Bemina Bypass, where it merges with NH-44, carries a major share of traffic towards north and south Kashmir but is too narrow to handle the growing volume of vehicles.
“Traffic snarls have become routine here. Ambulances get stuck for long and very few men from the traffic department manage the mess,” said Irfan Ahmad, a daily commuter, speaking with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
Other commuters pointed out that the road surface is smooth but its narrow width leads to frequent congestion and long traffic jams.
They said authorities had commissioned the Bemina Bypass Flyover in June 2024 to ease congestion at the junction. However, the flyover has done little to decongest the ground-level road, which continues to see bottlenecks during peak hours.
What worries locals even more is the silence surrounding the proposed four-lanning of the stretch, reportedly planned under NABARD. “No official sanction, DPR, or timeline has been made public so far, and the project appears to have made no headway,” said a local resident, adding that although the matter ‘was discussed in the previous Assembly session,’ nothing has been implemented on the ground.
“Every day we are stuck here for 30 to 40 minutes. This is the only route to the highway and to the hospitals. We need wider roads and proper traffic management,” said another commuter.
Officials from the Roads & Buildings department were not immediately available for comment on the status of the four-lanning proposal.
Meanwhile, the residents have urged the administration to speed up road widening, improve traffic regulation and deploy more traffic police personnel at Bemina Crossing to prevent daily gridlock—(KNO)