Long tailbacks on both sides of Bangabandhu Bridge frustrate homebound passengers

Both sides of the highway on the Bangabandhu Bridge witnessed severe traffic congestion on Thursday due to a rush of vehicles carrying home-bound passengers on occasion of the three consecutive holidays. 

Officials concerned said the work to upgrade the 20 kilometre highway from the Bangabandhu Bridge to Hatikumrul, Sirajganj on the west side of the bridge has been causing traffic jams for some time now.

The situation worsened when the rush of traffic increased on Wednesday night.  Furthermore, an accident on the east side of the bridge worsened the traffic congestion on the 20km stretch of the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway.

Owners of perishable goods carried by trucks feared their products would be ruined if they could not reach their destination on time.

Ruksana Begum, a Rajshahi-bound passenger stuck in the jam, said, "We are waiting for so long. My son and I just cannot stand this heat."

To avoid the traffic jam on the highway, some drivers went through Sirajganj city yesterday morning.

Mirajul Hossain Islam, a Rangpur-bound bus driver, said, "There are traffic jams at some points on roads inside the city too. Despite that, traffic is moving faster along this route."

Sayem Uddin, a passenger on a Dhaka-bound bus from Natore, said it was supposed to take around 20 minutes to travel from Hatikumrul to Bangabandhu Bridge. However, due to the repair work on the highway, it took about an hour-and-a-half to cross the 20km road.

Afaz Mia, a Bogura-bound bus driver, said, "I have moved one kilometre in one-and-half-hours since 7am. It will take a few more hours to cross the bridge, I think."

Bangabandhu Bridge East Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shafiqul Islam told our Tangail correspondent that a road accident took place on the west bank of Bangabandhu Bridge early Thursday, but there were no casualties.

"It took time to remove the vehicles involved in the accident. It caused a traffic jam that has reached the east side of Bangabandhu Bridge," he said, adding that they were working to reduce traffic congestion.

Projects to upgrade the Bangabandhu Bridge-Hatikumrul highway and construct a new road leading to a new bridge beside the Nalka Bridge in Sirajganj are severely hampering vehicle movement, Sirajganj Traffic Inspector Mohammad Salekuzzaman Salek told our Sirajganj correspondent.

The Sirajganj traffic inspector further said sources at the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the contractors told him that the new bridge next to the Nalka Bridge will be opened before the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. Hopefully, the situation will improve then.

"Currently, the Sirajganj traffic department is working round the clock to keep the highway free of traffic jams," he added.

Echoing him, OC of Bangabandhu Bridge West Police Station Mosaddek Hossain said there will be traffic jams as long as the highway construction work will go on. During the day, the pressure is a little less due to the low traffic, but the number of vehicles on the highway triples as trucks carrying goods ply at night.

According to the RHD, a 190km-long highway from Tangail to Rangpur via Sirajganj is being upgraded under the Sasec Road Connectivity Project-2. Five contractors from home and abroad are carrying out the development work.

The joint venture of contractor HEGO-Mir Akhter is implementing the work of a 19.08km section from the west bank of Bangabandhu Bridge to Hatikumrul.

Md Ekhlas Uddin, site manager of the organisation, said initially it was a three-year project, but it was extended for another year due to the pandemic.

"We started work in April 2019. The work will be completed in April 2023. Already 50% of the main road has been completed, while the 80% of the bridges, culverts, flyovers, underpasses and overpasses have been done.

Didarul Alam Tarafdar, executive engineer of RHD, Sirajganj, said their head office in Dhaka is supervising the construction work, so he could not comment on it. 

Our Tangail correspondent Jafar Ahmed and our Sirajganj correspondent Israil Hossain Babu contributed to this report.