Three flyovers open to traffic ahead of north-bound Eid rush

Three unfinished flyovers in Tangail and Gazipur have been opened to traffic to ease the north-bound Eid-ul-Fitr rush of home-goers.

The Gorai Flyover in Tangail’s Mirzapur Upazila was inaugurated around 2pm on Monday.

Project officials hope the flyover would allow vehicles to move freely on Dhaka-Tangail Highway ahead of the Eid holidays. They are expecting massive pressure of vehicles on the highway during the Eid journey this year just like in previous years.

“The four-lane 70km Joydevpur-Chandra-Tangail-Elenga road is almost complete. Nevertheless, since the road between Elenga and Bangabandhu Bridge has only two lanes, traffic starts snarling in that area,” said one of the officials.

Tangail’s Gorai Flyover Dhaka Tribune

Roads and Highways Department (RHD) Chief Engineer AKM Manir Hossain Pathan, Sasek-1 Project Director MD Ishraq and other senior officials were present at the site.

Another flyover built in Kaliakoir’s Safipur Bazar area was also opened to traffic. High authorities of the Roads and Highways Department were present at that time. Parts of the 1269-metre flyover are still under construction.

Meanwhile, the Nowjor Flyover, which connects Dhaka to Tangail,  was opened to traffic as well around 2pm.

Long traffic congestion is common on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, which starts from Nowjor to Safipur Bazar under Kaliakair Upazila.

The construction work for the 815-metre Nowjor Flyover started in 2019. A total of Tk58 crore was spent on the project so far, as the flyover is yet to be completed.

After missing deadlines several times, the government decided to open the three flyovers to traffic on the northbound route to ease the journey of holidaymakers.

Our Tangail correspondent Abdullah Al Numan, and Gazipur correspondent Raihanul Islam Akand contributed to this report.