Modhumoti, 3rd Shitalakhhya bridges to improve internal road link and beyond

Two more major roadway bridges will be opened to traffic on Monday (October 10, 2022), giving a big boost to the internal communication and beyond.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Modhumoti Bridge (locally known as Kalna Bridge) in Narail and 3rd Shitalakhhya Bridge in Narayanganj virtually from Gono Bhaban.

Sultana Yasmin, joint secretary of the Road Transport and Highway Division, confirmed the development to The Daily Star today (October 6, 2022).

The construction of Kalna Bridge, the first six-lane bridge in the country, will fill up the last missing link of Asian Highway-1 route and cut the distance between Dhaka and Jashore significantly.

The 3rd Shitalakhhya Bridge, the long-delayed project, will establish direct road link between Narayanganj city and Bandar upazila and will ultimately create a direct connectivity between two major national highways -- Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga-Barishal-Patuakhali highways.

The development came over three months after the government opened the long-cherished Padma Bridge in June and a month after the opening of Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in Pirojpur last month.

WILL BOOST CONNECTIVITY

Opening of the two more bridges will boost connectivity further, said Syed Moinul Hasan, additional chief engineer (planning and maintenance wing) of Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the implementing agency of the projects.

The Asian Highway-1 route, connecting Meghalaya with West Bengal of India via Sylhet-Dhaka-Narail-Jashore, earlier had two missing links: one is the Padma Bridge and another Kalna Bridge.

With the opening of the Modhumoti Bridge, the last missing link will be disappeared, Moinul Hasan told The Daily Star today.

The length of the route from Dhaka to Jashore via Gabtoli-Paturia-Daulatdia-Magura-Jashore is 218km. It will be slashed to 160km via Jatrabari-Padma Bridge-Kalna Bridge, another RHD official said.

Moinul said opening of the 3rd Shitalakhya Bridge will directly connect the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway with Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway.

As a result, vehicles from southern districts would not need to come to the capital's Jatrabari for going to Chattogram, he said adding that although the connecting road is not a wide one but they will take project for expanding the road.

MODHUMOTI BRIDGE

RHD in May 2016 took up a project titled Cross-Border Road Network Improvement Project with a soft loan from Japan.

The Kalna bridge over the Madhumati River, which is among 17 bridges being constructed under the Tk 3,745.51-crore project, will cut short the travel time between Dhaka and Jashore.

The government later named the bridge as Modhumoti Bridge.

People are now using ferries to cross the river at Kalna point.

The physical work of the 690-metre bridge started in November 2018 at the cost of Tk 959.45 crore. This is a Nielsen-Lohse arch type steel bridge, which is 27.10m wide, and the first six-lane bridge of the country.

3RD SHITALAKHHYA BRIDGE

The Shitalakhhya river separates Bandar upazila from the Narayanganj district headquarters.

The only direct road connection is through the Kanchpur Bridge (Shitalakhhya-1 Bridge), which currently requires nearly 30km of travel, according to RHD documents.

Once the four-lane bridge with walkways is opened to public, commuters will have to travel less than two kilometres to reach Narayanganj city from Bandar upazila.

RHD in November 2010 initiated the bridge project with Saudi Arabia's funding. But it took over seven years to hire consultants and contractors before the physical works started in late 2017.

The 1234.5m bridge with 834.5m viaduct is formally named as Bir Muktijodhhda AKM Nasim Osman 3rd Shitalkhhya Bridge.