No respite from gridlocks on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway

Commuters in Dhaka, especially in Banani, were suffering because of a kilometres-long tailback on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway on Wednesday.

There were traffic jams from Banani to Tongi's Millgate area on the Mymensingh-bound and Tongi's Board Bazar area on the Dhaka-bound road.

Nuruzzaman, who works at a private organization, said he had been stuck on Tongi Station Road for one and a half hours. He said his office started at 8am but was still on the road at 8:30am. “At this point I do not know whether I will be able to go to the office or even return home anytime soon.”

Mohammad Ali, a resident of Tongi's Collegegate area, said he returned home instead of going to work when he saw that no vehicles on the road were moving forward.

“The highway on Monday became impassable due to continuous rainfall throughout the day. Passengers were also suffering all day long on Tuesday.”

The situation seemed to be even worse on Wednesday, Ali added.

 Dhaka Tribune

Humayni Kabir, who lives in the Board Bazar area, said: “The drain on the side of the road is filled with garbage. As a result, water overflows and accumulates in the potholes on the highway.”

On top of that, the road from Abdullahpur to Chandona Chowrasta in Gazipur has shrunk due to the ongoing work of the BRT project. 

Mainuddin, the driver of a Rajeev Paribahan bus, said that vehicles were moving on one lane in the Milgate area of Tongi. He blamed random dumping of construction materials on the Gazipur section of the highway for daily traffic jams.

If the people in charge of the project had repaired the short road at Tongi's Millgate, there would not have been such gridlocks now, he added.

A traffic policeman in Abdullahpur said there was waterlogging because of rain caused by Cyclone Sitrang. 

The wheels of vehicles were hitting the potholes on the road, making them larger, he said. Some vehicles were getting stuck in them and causing traffic jams, he added.

BRT Project Director Mahirul Islam said there would be no more suffering on the road after the construction work was complete in Novemeber.