An advanced traffic management system is expected to be launched on the Padma Bridge by the end of the month, with about 70% of the work already completed, Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) Superintending Engineer Liaquat Ali has said.
The installation of fibre optic lines for the system is currently in progress, he told Dhaka Tribune.
The traffic management system will include CCTV cameras and speed guns in order to crackdown on reckless driving and help avert accidents. This will be the first such system in Bangladesh.
Although work on the Padma Bridge section is expected to be completed this month, it will take some time to start the system on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway, Liaquat added.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Padma Bridge on June 25, 2022. All types of vehicles were allowed onto the bridge from the next day.
Motorcycle movement on the bridge was disallowed from June 27 after two people were killed in a collision between a motorcycle and a covered van.
On December 12, Abu Hanif Hriday, chairman of an organization called Bangladesh Republican Party, filed a petition with the High Court seeking to know why the imposition of restrictions on the movement of motorcycles on the Padma Bridge would not be illegal. However, the High Court rejected the writ on Sunday.