A 10-km long tailback was created on Dhaka-Tangail highway as the vehicular movement on Bangabandhu bridge remains suspended for two hours in the early hours of Thursday due to freezing fog.
Hundreds of passengers along with transport workers of buses and trucks experienced untold sufferings amid bone-chilling cold due to the tailbacks that stretched from the toll plaza on the eastern side of the bridge to Bhavla of Kalihati upazila on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu bridge highway.
According to sources in the traffic control room of Bangabandhu Bridge, the toll booths in the east and west toll plazas were kept closed from 12am to 2am to avoid accidents on the bridge due to freezing fog.
Later, two toll booths on the east side and two on the west side were kept open out of 14 toll booths on both sides due to long queues and traffic jams on the highway.
Even in the morning nothing can be seen in the dense fog, according to sources.
The drivers fell asleep because the cars were stopped for a long time. Besides, many people blocked the road by parking their cars here and there. Apart from this, the traffic pressure on the highway increases in the morning. As a result, traffic jams are created.
Shafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bangabandhu Bridge East police station said that the toll collection on the bridge remains suspended at night for several days due to thick fog.
Now, there is a long queue of vehicles from Bangabandhu bridge toll plaza to Bhavla in Kalihati upazila since early morning on Thursday.
Police are working to normalize traffic on the highway, he added.
