LAHORE: Various city areas, particularly those around the Gaddafi Stadium, saw massive traffic jams on Friday before the inauguration of the revamped cricket arena.

Long queues of vehicles were seen on Jail Road, Canal Road, Ferozepur Road and Gulberg`s Main Boulevard and surrounding arteries as police set up pickets there as a security measure before the formal opening of the renovated stadium by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the evening.

Jail Road, Canal Road, Ferozepur Road and Mian Boulevard of Gulberg remained closed to traffic for around half-an-hour before the arrival of the prime minister at the stadium, while other roads were barricaded, slowing down the traffic movement, resulting in congestion on the connecting roads.

The police did not remove the barricades throughout the inauguration ceremony that continued for well over an hour.

The traffic situation was also not good in some other areas. A section of The Mall in front of a five-star hotel had been closed as New Zealand and West Indies cricket teams, as well as participants of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference are residing there.

Similarly, the route from the hotel on The Mall to Hazuri Bagh near the Lahore Fort was also closed for traffic as a dinner was hosted in the historic garden for the CPA delegates.