Hasina inaugurates Bangladesh's first expressway

Bangladesh's first ever expressway connecting Dhaka to Faridpur's Bhanga Upazila has been formally opened to traffic.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 March 2020, 06:28 AM
Updated : 12 March 2020, 06:57 AM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the expressway through a video conference at Ganabhaban on Thursday.

The 55km-long expressway, stretching from Dhaka's Jatrabari to Bhanga via Mawa, has six separate lanes for different vehicles, flyovers to avoid crossing, underpass and other modern traffic facilities.

 

It was designed with all the facilities of a modern highway to ensure that the people can fully utilise the Padma Bridge, the biggest infrastructure project in the country, once it is constructed.

Travel to Dhaka from Mawa will now take less than an hour, according to surface communication experts.

Hasina also inaugurated a six-lane approach road to the Shah Amanat Bridge over the river Karnaphuli, including 25 bridges on the Khulna-Barishal-Gopalganj zone constructed under the Western Bangladesh Bridge Improvement (Revised) project.

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader and Army chief General Aziz Ahmed also spoke during the inauguration as Road Transport and Highway Department Secretary MD Nazrul Islam briefed the media on various aspects of the projects.

Two parts of the expressway will be connected through the Padma Bridge. On Tuesday, the 26th span was installed for the four-kilometre long main part of the bridge.

The construction of the highway cost Tk 110 billion, according to the minister. It has  44 culverts, 19 underpasses, four big bridges, 25 small bridges, five flyovers, two interchain and four railway overpasses , he added.

There are two service lanes on both sides of the expressway to cater for the local and slow-moving vehicles to ensure that fast-moving vehicles can run smoothly on the road and travel time reduces.

The expressway is set to ease the travel from Khulna and Barishal divisions to Dhaka.

The project was completed three months before its deadline of Jun 20, according to Quader.