Long tailbacks on Tangail highway

A dilapidated 10-km stretch of Dhaka-Tangail Highway between Chandra and Deohata is subjecting homegoers to huge tailbacks.

Thanks to the pothole ridden road, hundreds of vehicles had to spend at least several hours since early Monday on the road here.

"My bus was stuck for over three hours on the miles long tailbacks," Saiful Islam, a physician headed to Bhuapur, told The Daily Star.

The situation remained unchanged till noon despite the highway police trying hard to ease the congestion.

"We informed the executive engineers of Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Tangail and Gazipur about the bad shape of the road," Khalilur Rahman Patwari, officer-in-charge of Gorai Highway Police Station said.

Drivers and passengers said they saw RHD men repairing the road at some points.

"I do not understand what they have done all the year," said a grieving bus driver Rashedul Islam.

Abdul Hakim, a sub-divisional engineer of RHD in Tangail, said they repaired the highway only a few days ago, but incessant rain and traffic pressure damaged the road again.

"Now we are repairing the new potholes created due to the heavy shower and overloaded vehicles," he added.

The highway, known as the gate to the north, has a capacity about 7,000 vehicles plying in a day, but about 12,000 to 15,000 vehicles of 26 districts, including 16 northern and five south western, use the road every day. The number increases to over 30,000 during the Eid, Hakim added.

Sajedul Islam, a traffic inspector in Tangail, said, "We hope there will be no traffic chaos on the highway during the Eid rush, but the situation may worsen if the rain doesn't stop in the next three days."