Driving rains and messy movement of vehicles twined with road mishaps have caused massive traffic gridlock on the highways connecting capital Dhaka with the north and south regions of the country.
A 60-kilometre-long standstill on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway, on both ends of the bridge, since Friday morning have left those returning to Dhaka in absolute misery after a prolonged holiday on accounts of Eid, shutdown and National Mourning Day.
Quoting police and passengers, bdnews24.com’s Sirajganj Correspondent said two Dhaka-bound goods-laden truck lost control and overturned at the road island on the bridge’s west bank side at around 5:30am.
This forced thousands of vehicles to remain stranded on the highway, which created a 19-kilometre-long tailback from there to Nakla and a 37-kilometre-long jam until Tangail’s Karatia on the east end of the bridge.
Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge West Bank Police Station Inspector Abdul Hakim told bdnews24.com vehicular movement resumed an hour after the trucks were removed from the road, but the flow was very slow.
Meanwhile, the gridlock developed on the Dhaka-Tangail highway after engines of two buses and four trucks broke down on the road at Jamurki, Pakulla, Mirzapur and Kaliakoir areas in Tangail.
Gorhai Highway Police Station OC Zobaidul Alam said movement of traffic was obstructed due to the heavy rains on Thursday night. The congestion, starting from Tangail’s Elenga to Gazipur’s Chandra, also choked the traffic movement after several vehicles broke down.
Many passengers said they started their journey for Dhaka on Thursday night and Friday morning after spending the extended vacation due to Eid, Jamaat-e-Islami’s 48-hour nationwide shutdown and the public holiday on National Mourning Day.
bdnews24.com Tangail Correspondent said the additional number of vehicles running to handle the pressure of passengers also contributed to the tailbacks on the two-lane highway where the snarl had started developing after 11pm Thursday.
A passenger, ‘Iqbal’ who is on his way to Dhaka from Dinajpur, told bdnews24.com that he could not cross Tangail even after eight hours on the road.
Dhaka University student Iffat Farhana had started for Dhaka at 8:30pm Thursday from Thakurgaon with her younger brother. She said it took nearly eight hours to cross Mirzapur from Elenga on Friday, which is usually a 40-minute ride.
The bus was stranded along with other vehicles at Elenga for at least four hours, she said.
bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent Reazul Bashar said the bus to Dhaka he was supposed to board at Kushtia at 10am Friday did not reach Kushtia until 12pm.
Bus counter’s officials were saying the bus was yet to reach Kushtia, he said. “The counter manager said the bus was still stuck at Elenga at Friday noon.”
Jagannath University student Al Helal Shuvo started for Dhaka at 10pm Thursday from Rangpur. He was also stuck at Elenga at 12:30pm.
The snarl worsened because of disordered parking of many trucks along the roads in several areas, he said.
Anonyo Mahfuz, Kamal Hossain Mithu and many others blamed the trucks for aggravating the congestion.
District police personnel were assisting highway police to clear the jam ‘as soon as possible’, Highway police OC Zobaidul Alam said.
Meanwhile, a three-kilometre-long gridlock stranded the vehicles on the road from Kewrakandi ferry terminal to Pacchor on the Mawa-Kewrakandi river route, which connects the country’s southern region to Dhaka.
bdnews24.com Madaripur Correspondent said the vehicles coming from 21 southern districts were stuck because of the tailbacks.
However, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation’s (BIWTC) Assistant Manager of Kewrakandi dock MA Baten said ferry services were uninterrupted despite the congestion at the terminal and on its approaching road.
Source: Bd news24