For thousands of commuters travelling between Jammu and Srinagar, the once-picturesque NH44 has turned into a living nightmare. What should ideally be a smooth five-hour drive now regularly stretches to 12-14 hours, sometimes longer, with passengers stuck in endless jams.

From potholes the size of craters to an alarming lack of traffic regulation, NH44 today is less a highway and more a chaotic mess, a tragic example of how a vital lifeline can be brought to its knees through mismanagement, neglect, and sheer administrative apathy.

Travelling on the highway feels like navigating an obstacle course. Key stretches are damaged beyond recognition. Rain and landslides have made things worse, but even in fair weather, the road surface is broken, uneven, and in places, almost non-existent. For a national highway of such strategic and economic importance, the condition is simply unacceptable.

Despite the visible damage, there's no sign of consistent repair work. Patches are temporarily filled, only to break down days later. The heavy movement of trucks and tankers adds to the wear, yet there seems to be no structural maintenance plan in place.

If the poor condition of the road wasn't enough, the way traffic is managed, or rather, not managed, adds another layer of frustration. Tankers, trucks, passenger vehicles, buses, and even herds of livestock all compete for space on the narrow stretches of the highway. There is no proper timing, no zoning, and certainly no system in place to regulate the flow from either side.

Nomadic groups, who travel with their livestock, are moving day and night, a normal seasonal occurrence, but without any coordination with traffic authorities. Their movement is often unpredictable and further clogs the already choked highway.

In such a high-pressure scenario, even basic traffic management could make a world of difference. Yet shockingly, there is complete silence on part of concerned authorities. Drivers are left to self-regulate, resulting in vehicles jostling for space, line-cutting, and blockages that last for hours.

Amid this chaos, one solution that many commuters and drivers are demanding is a system of one-way traffic movement, at least during peak congestion periods. If traffic is allowed from one side at a time, for example, Srinagar to Jammu for a set window and then reversed, it could significantly ease the pressure at choke points. This is a proven system in hilly and narrow terrains across the country, yet NH44 continues to operate in both directions simultaneously, leading to deadlocks that can stretch for kilometres.

This is not just about inconvenience. The human cost of this breakdown is real. Passengers include elderly people, patients on their way to hospitals, infants, and tourists, all stuck in their vehicles with no access to basic facilities or updates on traffic movement. Tempers flare. Panic sets in. And the overall experience leaves people physically and emotionally drained.

Local transporters are losing income, students are missing exams and classes, and traders are struggling to move goods on time. The economic impact is no less significant than the personal one.

The NH44 chaos is a textbook example of everything that's wrong with how public infrastructure is being managed. Authorities are either absent or reactive. There's no real-time communication, no helpline that works, and absolutely no accountability when things go wrong. People are simply left to figure things out on their own.

The government must act, not with words, but with an actionable, time-bound plan. Deploy more traffic personnel, fix the damaged stretches on a war footing, coordinate with nomadic groups, regulate the flow of heavy vehicles, and implement a one-way system before the winter months make matters worse.

NH44 paralysed