3 flyovers, lane of bridge opened ahead of Eid to ease rush
thedailystar.net
12h
Photo: Collected
The government today (April 25, 2022) opened a portion of bridge and three flyovers to smoothen vehicular movement during the upcoming Eid rush.
The bridge is located at Sirajganj's Nolka area. Of the flyovers, two are located at Gazipur's Naujor and Shafipur areas, while one is at Tangail's Gorai upazila.
This initiative will ease the sufferings of holidaymakers, who will travel to 16 northern districts and six southern districts, said government officials concerned.
Normally, some 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles ply daily through this highway. But the numbers of vehicles rise to around 50,000 during Eid rush, according to highway police.
The Eid rush is likely to be heavier this year as there are almost no Covid restrictions in place.
Transport experts roughly estimated that around 1.2 crore people will leave Dhaka ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr, which will be on May 2 or 3.
The government is upgrading the 190km highway to dual carriageway from Tangail's Elenga to Rangpur under the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)-1 and SASEC-2 projects.
As part of the development work, road expansion works are underway on a 25km stretch between Bangabandhu bridge's west end and Hatikumrul intersection in Sirajganj.
Furthermore, the construction work of a bridge is going on in Sirajganj's Nolka area.
Slow movement of vehicles is already causing tailbacks on both sides of the Bangabandhu bridge. The situation is feared to worsen during Eid rush by the end of this week.
Amid such a situation, the government yesterday, opened a lane of the under-construction bridge at and three flyovers on this highway.
"Construction of Nolka bridge is yet to be fully completed. But we have decided to open a lane to smoothen vehicular movement as huge numbers of vehicles will hit the streets during eid holidays," said Ahsan Masud Bappi, manager of highway upgradation project.
He also informed that another lane of the bridge will be opened to public ahead of Eid-ul-Azha in July.
Talking to The Daily Star, Hatikumrul Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Lutfor Rahman said the Eid rush is likely to begin on Wednesday.
"We have identified 26 spots on the 25km stretch from Bangabandhu Bridge's west zone to Hatikumrul. Around 170 policemen will be deployed there to ensure smooth movement of traffic," he said.
In Gazipur, the Shafipur flyover was opened at around 1:00pm and the Naujor flyover was opened around one hour later.
Construction works of both the flyovers began in 2019.
The length of the Shafipur flyover is around 1.26km, while the Noujor flyover is around 815m, according to officials of the Road Transport and Highways Division.
"Traffic gridlock was a common phenomenon on the Dhaka-Tangail highway. The flyovers will contribute to lessen the traffic gridlock," said Mohammad Shariful Alam, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Gazipur.
In Tangail, the Gorai flyover is located under Mirzapur upazila and has a length of around 800m.
"Some works in the flyover still remain pending. But it will not cause any trouble in vehicular movement. We have decided to open it to ensure smooth movement of vehicles," said KM Noor-e-Alam, additional Director of (SASEC)-1 project.
[Our correspondents from Pabna, Gazipur, and Tangail contributed to this report]
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