The most exhausting parts on the way to Sylhet

Two roads on the way to Sylhet have proven particularly exhausting for people leaving Dhaka for Eid holidays.

The cars that pass Kanchpur Bridge are usually forced to a halt as they arrive at Narayanganj’s Bhulta, a bottleneck mostly due to an overpass construction there.

Similar peril awaits vehicles in the form of gaping potholes at Ghorashal in Narsingdi. This is the scene without the addition of Eid traffic.

Traffic jams are an everyday matter at Bhulta. Various kinds of vehicles parked on both sides of the road add to the mess of construction work.

Buses offering routes to Dhaka have taken over each of the four-lane road on both sides of the overpass. Then there are cars that take the wrong side of the road.

Those headed to Sylhet then wait in signal, as traffic for Dhaka bypass is allowed to pass.

More obstruction is offered by parked human haulers that wait for passengers to Kanchpur and rickshaw vans that go the wrong way to take vegetables to a kitchen market lining the pavement.

Crossing all this takes three to four hours, said Shahin Alam, who drives buses to Sylhet for Hanif Paribahan.  “Sometimes we try to take the Dhaka bypass road via Madanpur, but there is traffic jam there too.”

“Once you’re in Bhulta, it might take three or even four hours to pass. This traffic can be avoided if the authorities just toughen up a bit. We’ll go mad if this continues,” he said.

And the police did not offer much help as departments evaded the responsibility for controlling this traffic.

Highway Police ASP Md Akhtaruzzaman in charge of the Narayanganj region said his department was taking care of traffic on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.

“That part of the road is taken care of by district police," he said.

But Narayaganj SP Moinul Haque disagreed.

“That’s the Highway Police’s job. We are here to provide them support if necessary,” he told bdnews24.com.

Then comes the road to Ghorashal.

Vehicles from the north Dhaka, Savar, Gazipur and those headed north take the Tongi-Ghorashal-Panchdona road. A 34-kilometre stretch from Tongi, it meets the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway at Panchdona in Narsingdi.

It is also used by Sylhet buses for an alternative route from Dhaka, but the narrow and decaying road makes travel exhausting.

Bad roads start just after Tongi. Rotting waste lines the road at Nimtoli rail crossing. Putrid liquid seeps out from the waste, filling the numerous potholes. So traffic slows.

Further on, at Mirerbazar, parked Legunas, small four-wheelers, take up a lot of road space. At Pubail Rail Crossing, the road surface has peeled off. So more potholes and slower movement.

But the road is perhaps worst in the 150-metre stretch between Ghorashal’s Moyezuddin Bridge Toll Stand and Nazmul CNG Filling Station. The potholes increase significantly and they are much bigger there, enough to overturn trucks, said locals.

A hay-laden truck overturned there on Sunday, closing traffic for hours.

Ena Pribahan driver Md Amzad Hossain Akhand who operates the Sylhet route said it takes three hours to pass without traffic jam. With traffic, it takes more than five hours.

“The company will face losses if this goes on. And our passengers won’t be able to reach home for Eid.”