A bridge built just six months earlier on Peshawar’s Northern Bypass near Nasir Bagh, along with part of its connecting road, has been swept away by floodwaters triggered by heavy monsoon rains.
The flood surge reportedly overwhelmed the protective embankments surrounding the bridge, causing extensive damage to the structure and disrupting an important route linking Hayatabad with Karkhano Market.
The road is used daily by hundreds of employees, industrial workers and residents of Hayatabad, while vehicles travelling from the motorway towards Ring Road also rely on the route.
The Northern Bypass had helped reduce traffic congestion in Peshawar, but the damaged bridge has now forced thousands of commuters to take alternative routes, adding to travel difficulties in the area.
Residents say nearly three months have passed since the bridge was damaged, but reconstruction and rehabilitation work has yet to begin.
They have called on the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, Communications and Works Department, National Highway Authority, Peshawar Development Authority and other relevant agencies to restore the bridge and road as soon as possible.
Residents have also demanded an investigation into the quality of the original construction, calling for those responsible for any substandard work to be identified and held accountable.