Without service roads, huge traffic gridlocks choke Uttara
Uttara once had exemplary road communication with service roads, but 'unscientific' development project plans - particularly the 20.2 km BRT project - now seem to paralyse Uttara traffic flow. How long will commuters and Uttara residents continue to suffer?
Middle-aged Abu Taher, the chauffeur of a car owner from Sector-11 in Dhaka's Uttara, often fears intense suffocation due to intolerable traffic congestion.
Even the car's air cooler cannot stop him from the sweat trickling down his face or staining his shirt. It happens when a peak-hour traffic jam entraps him for hours while he is en route to Motijheel, his employer's workstation, only 22km away from home.
"Today [2 October 2022] at noon, it took four hours to reach Motijheel from Uttara. For more than half of the time, I passed through Uttara at a snail's pace. A terrible experience," Taher lamented.
That particular day, a segmented construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project squeezed a Uttara portion of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway – one of the major arterials of Dhaka city – to such an extent that around 15km and 5km tailbacks were created on the left-hand side of the Gazipur Chourasta-Rajlakshmi and the Kuril Bishwa Road-Rajlakshmi roads respectively, traffic police under Uttara East Zone informed.
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Recent news reports revealed how frequent the traffic congestion around the Uttara area compelled passengers to walk on foot leaving their modes of transport. Some passengers were seen rushing to the airport on foot to catch their flights on time.
The reason behind the suffering is the chaotic construction of the 20.2km BRT between Shibbari, Gazipur and the Airport intersection, Dhaka.
Chaotic in the sense that the construction project narrows the 4-lane highway to 2-lane at some points in the Uttara area without creating service roads. Decades ago, Uttara had the classic service roads which were subsidiary ones running parallel to the highway, giving access to residences or business hubs.
The past: Making of chaos
Residents of Uttara – covering a population size of more than five lakh – started to feel the burden of the BRT project when the Abdullahpur to Rab-1 office part of the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway became the project site in 2018.
Connected to the avenues like Sonargaon Janapath, Rabindra Smarai, Jashimuddin, Alaol, Isakha, Shahjalal and Shayesta Khan, there are more than 20 collector roads, each, at the east and west sides of Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway. Uttara residents used to exit and enter the area through the alleys and the collectors when there were service roads on both sides of the highway.
To reduce traffic congestion at the major intersections, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) set up three U-turn points – two 50ft-wide pitcher-shaped median openings with a Z-shaped island in between on the 100ft-wide highway – along the highway in 2016.
"The U-turns made commuting easier for the local residents. But the system has been broken soon after the BRT project started," said Afsar Uddin, ward-1 councillor of DNCC.
The present: Clogged arteries
Still, there are accesses to U-turn at the House Building intersection, in front of the Uttara East Police Station and in front of the Rab-1 office. But the U-turn points are not helping at all.
"There is no functional service road. Thus, 80% of the car drivers from Uttara use the Uttara East Police Station U-turn point via Jashimuddin Avenue as the only exit route to avoid traffic tailbacks generated at the intersections: House Building, Azampur and Rajlakshmi.
"Uttara-bound vehicles from Tongi or Gazipur also use the same U-turn," chauffeur Taher said while explaining how that particular U-turn point becomes choked, eventually hampering traffic movement at the entire road during peak hours.
The situation has worsened manifolds since the BRT construction agencies beefed up safety measures (diversion of traffic during site development) after the 15 August girder accident that claimed five lives.
Mohammad Harun, the chauffeur of a car owner from Sector-6, Uttara, wonders when will the BRT project be completed. He has no option but to use the Uttara East Police Station U-turn point to leave and enter the area.
He said, "In this area, most of the exit-and-entry gates of collector roads remain locked by the housing associations. Sometimes, it takes around one hour to travel from Uttara East to Uttara West."
The car drivers blamed traffic police as they allegedly allow public buses to drop off and pick up passengers haphazardly. "Unless you separate lanes for public buses and designate bus stoppages, nothing can help," Taher opined.
Officials at Uttara East Traffic Police zone said managing traffic seems a huge challenge for them.
They pointed out that specific traffic guidelines [indication] cannot be applied in Uttara due to indiscipline on the road. Apart from these, jaywalking and inadequate parking facilities also hamper traffic movement.
"Construction of BRT limits facilities of foot-over bridges and service roads. The BRT engineers seldom inform us about the particular site they are going to limit vehicular movement for safety. This hampers traffic management during an extraordinary situation," said Rafiqul Islam, DMP Assistant Commissioner at Uttara East Traffic Zone.
In three shifts: morning, evening, and night, a total of 97 police personnel control traffic movement at the House Building intersection, Azampur, Uttarkhan Bazar, Azampur rail gate, Abdullahpur, Sonargaon Janapath, Singer intersection and Kabab Factory intersection.
"On average, around 200 vehicles move through the highway, arterial and collector roads in a minute. Imagine how traffic control is challenging here. Every day, we impose fines for traffic law violators. But we cannot bring discipline on the roads," said traffic sergeant Kamruzzaman.
Dr Md Shamsul Hoque of the civil engineering department at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), finds the road communication and traffic system along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, particularly between Airport Rail Station and Abdullahpur, a mess.
Hoque recalled that the road was the most systematic one in Dhaka in the pre-independence period. "There were service roads parallel to the main road. Road development around Dhaka city should have been scaled up according to the Uttara example. But the authorities concerned did not do it," he told The Business Standard.
Citing that the Uttara example of a service road was suppressed during the development of the Nikunja-1 area, the professor said that Rajuk officials failed to understand the effectiveness of a service road.
What is the use of a service road? It compartmentalises local traffic while allowing the main road for fast-moving vehicles to travel long distances at higher speeds.
The future: Bleak, and more problematic
"Now the BRT project appears to be a huge burden. And the situation will turn worse in near future as the principal intersections at Joydevpur Chourasta, Bhogra and Abdullahpur don't have adequate space to accommodate intense traffic," explained the Buet professor.
He expressed his frustration over the authority's concerns for destroying road communication in the name of 'development,' terming them 'unskilled' and 'non-scientific'.
According to the BRT website, the project will be an important tool to improve the landscape and environment of north Dhaka by improving overall traffic management, among other things. Even before its commissioning, the BRT project has already been criticised for poor management.
Imprudent planning, a lack of farsightedness and subsequent cost overruns not only have compelled the concerned authorities to postpone BRT's commissioning date over the years but also upward the project cost to around Tk4,268 crore (at the latest count) at a 109% hike from the initial estimation in 2012 and an original deadline of completion in December 2016.
However, the deadline was revised and pushed back to June 2022; then again, to December this year. And once again, the deadline for completion has been set anew, now at July 2023.
A recent visit to the site, still, does not inspire much hope.
For several days, TBS reached out to the BRT's high officials - including the managing director and two project directors - for their comment. They did not respond.
