Commuters in Karachi face significant travel disruptions this week as the Malir River bridge—a critical artery connecting Korangi to the rest of the city—is set to remain closed for 48 hours.
The Karachi Traffic Police announced the closure late Tuesday, citing urgent maintenance work required on the bridge’s expansion joints. The restriction goes into effect immediately, forcing thousands of daily travelers to seek alternate routes through the Jam Sadiq bridge and other congested corridors.
The timing of the closure has drawn immediate criticism from local business owners and factory workers in the Korangi Industrial Area. “Two days of gridlock is a massive hit to production schedules,” said a logistics manager operating out of the industrial zone. “We rely on that bridge for time-sensitive deliveries, and the alternative routes are already at capacity.”
Traffic officials are urging motorists to plan their trips well in advance to avoid the inevitable bottlenecks. While the traffic department has deployed additional wardens at major diversion points, they admit that the volume of heavy vehicles typically using the bridge will inevitably spill over onto smaller, residential roads.
Maintenance crews are expected to work around the clock to finish the repairs by Thursday night. If the weather holds and the structural work proceeds as planned, the bridge should reopen for traffic on Friday morning.
For now, the city’s traffic management center says there are no exceptions to the closure, including for heavy goods vehicles, which are being diverted toward the Quaidabad and Landhi routes.
