Despite the weather improving substantially, the traffic flow on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway continues to be hampered as it was open to only one way traffic, which connects the Kashmir valley to the rest of the country, in order to avoid traffic congestion.
”Traffic on the 270-km-long highway will ply from Srinagar to Jammu on Monday,” a traffic police official told UNI.
He said Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) were allowed to move in the morning while Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) will be allowed in the afternoon. ”As of now only one way traffic will continue on the highway till further orders,” he said.
This experiment with opening the highway for one way traffic has been a success as for more than a week now traffic is plying by and large smoothly on the highway, which otherwise was witnessing heavy traffic jams for hours.
Meanwhile, the 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway, the only road linking the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh with Kashmir, has remained closed for more than two months now. There is more than 6 to 12 feet of snow on the highway, including at the Zojila pass, which has been frozen.
Similarly, the historic 86-km-long Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch and Anantnag-Kishtwar road has also remained closed due to accumulation of snow for the past two months.
”These roads are likely to reopen in March-April,” officials said.