Accidents clog northbound traffic ahead of Eid rush

Accidents in two spots along the Dhaka-Tangail Highway have slowed down northbound traffic to the dismay of travellers heading home for the Eid-ul-Azha holidays.

Holidaymakers experienced a smooth ride home until noon on Wednesday, Tangail Additional Superintendent of Police Mir Monir Hossain.

But overnight rains and two accidents involving freight trucks on the eastern end of the Bangabandhu Bridge led to heavy congestion on parts of the highway on Thursday.

One of the collisions occurred on the road from Elanga to the bridge while the other took place in the Gohalia Bari area of Kalihati.

Although there was no casualties, it took a while to clear the roads afterwards. It resulted in an 18-km-long tailback from Tangail's Rabna Bypass to the east side of the Bangabandhu Bridge, according to Monir.

“Despite the slowdown in traffic, the situation has returned to normal due to the efforts of the district and highway police. We are doing our best to ensure smooth travels ahead of Eid.”

Bangladesh will celebrate Eid-ul-Azha on Sunday. Thursday is the last working day ahead of the festival. As a result, the exodus of homebound travellers from Dhaka is expected to start that day, ahead of the long weekend.

All vehicles travelling from Dhaka to the north of the country must cross the river Jamuna using the Bangabandhu Bridge via Tangail. This is also the route used by vehicles transporting sacrificial animals to the capital from the north.

The number of vehicles on the Tangail highway has multiplied since the morning, said Superintendent of Police Mohammad Kaiser.

"The traffic will increase in the afternoon. We have taken the necessary steps to ease the suffering of passengers.”

WORSENING LOGJAM

As the day rolled on, the traffic at several points on Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Tangail highways came to a standstill, spelling misery for the home-bound travellers in the scorching heat and dust.

The bus drivers and passengers said the vehicles were clogged at Genda to Savar Busstand stretch, Nayarhat, Islampur and other parts of the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.

The traffic signal at Baipail intersection caused a long tailback within short periods of time.

At Baipail bus counters, the north-bound transports blocked the streets to pick up passengers, further compounding the situation.

In Jamgara area on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, the road is blistered with big potholes created by the rainwater. The slow movement of vehicles along the area caused a traffic logjam stretching a few kilometres back.

Baipail Traffic Box In-charge Khashru Ahmed said, “The road was fine in the morning. Vehicles began queuing up at noon. We’re following the signals but many vehicles are queuing up within a short amount of time. We’re hoping that things will return to normal soon.”

Khashru said intense logjams have occurred at C&B-Ashulia stretch’s Kalma, Charabagh and Bishmail’s Jirabo Kathgara

The vehicles reserved for garment workers for their Eid trip back home have turned the screws in Jirabo area.

“Multiple police teams are working on resolving the traffic lockups. But the actual cause for this is transports stopping as they please to pick up and drop passengers,” said Dhaka District Traffic Inspector Abdus Salam.