Holidaymakers' Journey Before Eid: Rain, road repair major concern

“It is expected that the Eid journey this time would be more comfortable than last year's. I am requesting everyone for the sake of public interest not to create panic by circulating confusing information in this regard."

- Obaidul Quader Road , Transport and Bridges Minister in a Facebook post

With a third of Ramadan gone, many have started wondering how their holiday trip home would be. Some fear that their journeys on roads would not be easy and their fears are not unfounded.

The Eid holidaymakers might suffer in traffic jams if the authorities failed to control vehicular movement at some key places on major highways, many of which are being expanded and repaired.

There have been jams on almost all major highways due mainly to poor road conditions, development work, and other bottlenecks, like narrow roads and bridges, poorly planned intersections, and roadside markets.

When the Eid rush gains momentum, traffic might drastically worsen at those places, transport workers said.

Early onset of rain is hampering road construction and repair work and it could make things worse for an estimated 80 lakh holidaymakers rushing to get out of the capital ahead of Eid.

The government took some initiatives, including repairs of some highways, but those could have zero results if traffic could not be strictly controlled during the rush, people in the transport business said.

"We are struggling to maintain schedule [for buses] during normal time due to bad condition of roads and some other issues. When the pressure of vehicles rises during the Eid rush, the situation is bound to deteriorate," said Faruk Talukder Sohel, chairman of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners' Association.

Ashis Kumar Dey, general secretary of National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR), claimed that repairs of rundown roads would not be possible within the June-8 deadline announced by Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.

"The work [repairs] will be insignificant and will be of little help … the apprehension of traffic jams and public sufferings remains," he said.

He pointed out that every year before the Eid holidays, the government work on ad-hoc basis without any specific plan and that was why the problem keeps recurring every year.

Saiful Islam, superintending engineer (Maintenance Circle) of Roads and Highways Department, on May 20 said they had started a programme to fix several roads about two months ago keeping the Eid rush in mind.

"However, early rain disrupted repair work," he told The Daily Star, adding that most of the work, not all, would be done before Eid.

He said the programme was being carried out with the budget for the sector and that no additional budget had been allocated.

The Daily Star correspondents talked to a number of transport experts, road-safety campaigners, bus service operators, drivers and passengers, and tried to identify and describe the places on five major highways where gridlocks are likely during the Eid rush.

Obaidul Quader over the last two weeks visited several congestion-prone spots, like Kanchpur Bridge, Meghna Bridge, Bhulta, and Baipail and talked to stakeholders.

At a programme on May 22 at Meghna ghat, he said holidaymakers' journey during this Eid would not be "totally hassle-free", but the congestion might be at "tolerable level".

DHAKA-CTG HIGHWAY

Considered the economic lifeline of the country, this four-lane highway had made headlines over the last couple of weeks with huge tailbacks caused mainly by construction work of a railway overpass at Fatehpur in Feni.

One side of the overpass have been opened to traffic.

However, this would probably not give the holidaymakers respite from traffic jams on this highway as there would be gridlocks at three narrow bridges on the Shitalakkhya, Meghna, and Gumti rivers and at the toll plaza near the Meghna Bridge.

The holidaymakers' woes would possibly start while getting out of Dhaka city. They are very likely to face gridlocks in Jatrabari area where local and short-haul buses pick up and drop off passengers blocking the road.

Ramps to get on Hanif Flyover could be clogged as well.

They could have similar experience in the Chittagong Road area in Narayanganj as buses block a portion of the highway to pick up and drop off passengers.

The highway abruptly narrows down to just two lanes from eight lanes right before the Kanchpur Bridge, a major bottleneck of the highway.

Vehicles might get stuck in jams at the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet highway intersection as well.

Vehicles trying to get into Dhaka or go to Sylhet from Chittagong end have to wait and give way to vehicles from Sylhet. And vehicles getting out of Dhaka towards Sylhet and Chittagong have to stop to give way to others as well.

The next hurdle is the Meghna Bridge toll plaza and the weighing scale. These slow down and often stop traffic.

Abul Hossain, a driver for more than three decades, said a lot of time is wasted at the toll plaza. But when vehicles get past the plaza, they get stuck again before the weighing scale because of the queue of trucks.

The next bottleneck is the two-lane Meghna Bridge on which vehicles move at a snail's pace. The situation is usually almost the same on the two-lane Gumti Bridge about 12km down the road.

A breakdown on any of these narrow sections halts traffic and within minutes the queue stretches for miles.

Chittagong is some 265km away from Dhaka and the travel time should be around four hours. But in reality, it often takes 15 to 16 hours during Eid holidays.

DHAKA-SYLHET HIGHWAY

Holidaymakers leaving for Sylhet from the capital might find themselves in deep trouble from the beginning of their journey. Tailbacks and rundown roads could make the trip awful, said transport operators.

The 214km two-lane highway would see huge pressure of vehicles ahead of Eid. Two roads lead to the Dhaka-Sylhet highway from Dhaka and one could get on the highway through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway via Kanchpur Bridge or through the Jatrabari-Demra road via Sultana Kamal Bridge.

Most of the long-haul buses use Dhaka-Chittagong highway as the condition of Jatrabari-Demra road is bad, said Mohammad Mahbub, a driver who has been driving on this route for the last 22 years.

If vehicles opt for the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, they would face jams at Kanchpur Bridge. If they take the Demra road, they would have a bumpy ride from Kajla of Jatrabari to Mridhabari, a 2km stretch.

Things would probably get worse in Rupshi area of Narayanganj. A huge number of vehicles getting in and out of factories would most likely create congestion.

Further down the road, construction of a four-lane flyover at Gawsia market in Narayanganj's Bhulta has been going on for over three years. The work has made the stretch of the highway between Bhulta and Gawsia market narrow and it takes three to four hours to cross that distance, claimed transport operators and passengers.

When the Eid rush begins it would be worse, they said.

From Gawsia to Lalmati in Shibpur of Narsingdi, the road is full of potholes, said Mahbub.

DHAKA-MYMENSINGH HIGHWAY

The main issue of this highway is the 13km stretch from Tongi Bridge to Joydevpur Chourasta.

The four-lane highway from Dhaka virtually reduces to a two-lane one on this leg due to illegal parking, roadside markets, and local public transports stopping at will to pick up and drop off passengers, and jaywalking.

Drainage development work along the highway from Cheragali of Tongi to Shibbari of Joydevpur is likely to worsen the congestion.

Krishna, driver of a long-haul bus, said stinky water from the drains now floods the road slowing down traffic. There are around 10-12 junctions on this 13km stretch that interrupt traffic flow.

The situation is so bad that it takes around four hours to cross this segment of the highway, Krishna added.

The drains are a component of Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project, also known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Under this project, the government would construct 20.5km dedicated bus lane from Dhaka to Gazipur.

Nur-e Alam Jewel, project manager of BRT, said they were working at 20 places between Cheragali to Shibbari. "We are trying our best to not put people in trouble."

The work is expected to be done later this year.

Ahmed Kabir, who frequents Mymensingh for work, said, "Journey on this stretch is a nightmare. This shows how bad traffic management on a small section impacts an entire highway."

KM Rahatul Islam, chief executive officer of Gazipur City Corporation, said several roadside markets eat up a large portion of the road space, hampering traffic. The increased number of vehicles during the holidays would only cause more congestion.

DHAKA-TANGAIL HIGHWAY

Despite being one of the major highways in the country, holidaymakers suffer the most on this one every year.

Holidaymakers would likely face bottlenecks on Gazipur-Chandra and Nabinagar-Chandra roads even though the roads have been expanded to dual carriageways.

Dhaka EPZ and a huge number of factories are located there. Buses and lorries are often parked on the road in front of factories narrowing down the highway at many places.

The Chandra intersection also sees severe congestion every year during the holidays.

People going towards Chandra via Nabinagar are likely to face jams at Baipail if the road repair work between Baipail and Jiranibazar is not completed before Eid.

Mosharaf Hossain, general manager of a popular long-haul bus service, said there was an alternative road from Dhamrai that connects the highway through Mirzapur of Tangail and this road should be kept open for long-haul buses to ease congestion.

The work on expanding Dhaka-Tangail highway to dual carriageway is going on.

The work has been completed on some sections but work is still going on in key areas like Elenga, Rasulpur, Karatia, and Pakulla in Tangail where the likelihood of jams during the Eid rush is very high, said transport workers.

Road conditions in Rasulpur, Rabna, Gharinda, Ashekpur, Pungli, Elenga and several other places in Mirzapur upazila are poor, which force traffic to slow down, they added.

An under-construction overpass in Gharinda has narrowed the road and it creates tailbacks, they said.

"We are facing tailbacks at different places almost every day. The holidaymakers may face gridlocks like previous Eids if the road work is not completed and the bridges are not opened before the Eid," said Saiful Islam, driver of a long-haul bus.

Echoing him, Mosharaf said, "Due to tailbacks, we face delays of three to four hours. We fear the situation would be worse than last year."

Sanjit Kumar Roy, superintendent of police of Tangail, said police have detected 19 problem points on the highway and asked the highway-expansion authorities to complete their work there as soon as possible.

Jikrul Hasan, project manager of Elenga-Joydevpur four-lane project, said almost half of the 23 new bridges on the highway have been opened to traffic and the rest would be opened between seven and 10 days before Eid.

"The necessary work on the road will also be completed by the June-8 deadline issued by the minister," he said.

There would be no good news for travellers after they cross the Bangabandhu Bridge. From Sirajganj's Hatikumrul, vehicles heading for northern districts will take three routes -- Hatikumrul-Chandaikona, Hatikumrul-Bonpara and Hatikumrul-Nagarbari.

But entrances to the three roads are riddled with potholes.

"All three routes to northern districts are badly damaged at places … 37km of Hatikumrul-Nagarbari road, 30km of Bonpara-Hatikumrul road, and 40km of Hatikumrul-Chandaikona road are riddled with potholes," said Ahad Ullah, executive engineer of RHD in Sirajganj.

Repairs worth Tk 14 crore is going on Hatikumrul-Chandaikona road and the rest two would get temporary patch ups before Eid, he said.

DHAKA-ARICHA-KHULNA HIGHWAY

How the journey on this highway would be depends mostly on the ferries at Paturia ferry terminal. But, Amin Bazar, Savar Bazar, and Nabinagar intersection are likely to be the major bottlenecks for travellers of southwestern districts.

After passing these, vehicles would have to wait to get on ferries at Paturia, which often takes hours.

Drivers fear that people would suffer a lot if there was a disruption in ferry services.

Mosharaf said there was a syndicate that used to artificially create congestion at Paturia-Daulatdia ferry terminals to earn money. But now the situation has change for the better after the deputy commissioner of Manikganj eradicate the syndicate, he said.

"The ferry service authorities must ensure proper management so that no bus can cut the queues," he said.

Besides, the authorities must ensure that trucks do not cross the river during the rush before and after the Eid, he added.

Azmal Hossain, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) in Aricha, said 14 to 16 ferries and 30 to 35 launches serve the route. He said the number of ferries would be increased to 19 during Eid.

He said usually 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles cross the Padma every day and the number increases 1.5 times during the Eid rush. "Handling the traffic will be a challenge but we are prepared," he added.

People of southern districts also use the Dhaka-Mawa highway. There could be gridlocks near the two bridges over the Buriganga and at Shimulia and Kathalbari ferry and launch terminals.

Despite the fears of the people, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on his Facebook yesterday said the holidaymakers' journey would be comfortable this year than that of previous years.

"Only heavy rain may slow down the speed of vehicles."

He also urged all not to create panic by spreading misleading information about the roads, reports UNB.

[Mirza Shakil from Tangail, Abu Bakar Siddique Akand from Gazipur, and Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu from Pabna contributed to this report.]