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Published : 21 May 2026, 12:14 PM
Anxieties have mounted over the holiday commute of residents heading to 23 northern and southern districts via the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge Highway as Eid-ul-Azha approaches.
The structural bottleneck at the Jamuna Bridge is expected to cause severe travel misery once again.
Compounding the situation, a critical 13.5-km section stretching from Elenga to the bridge is still undergoing four-lane expansion work.
Both passengers and drivers fear prolonged gridlock during the festive rush.
Police and the administration are drawing up special traffic plans and weighing alternative routes to keep the situation in check.
Jamuna Bridge Bottleneck
The Jamuna Bridge at the end of the highway carries traffic on only two lanes, causing vehicles moving freely on the four-lane road to pile up at the bridge entrance.
On a normal day, between 20,000 and 22,000 vehicles cross the bridge.
When Eid holidays begin, low-income workers from factories and industries pile onto local buses and alternative transport to get home, sending vehicle numbers several times higher.
The narrow bridge simply cannot absorb the extra load, and tailbacks stretch back 13.5km to the toll plaza and beyond.
Drivers Abdul Latif, Rasel Ahmed, Hasu Mia and Rakib Hossain, who regularly use the highway, told bdnews24.com that when government, semi-government and private offices all go on holiday at once, everyone rushes to leave Dhaka at the same time, dumping the traffic of 23 districts onto a single road all at once.
When holidays are announced at short notice just a day or two before Eid, the situation turns even worse as everyone races to get home first and the highway grinds to a halt.
Residents living near the bridge, including Shafiqul Islam, Siddiq Hossain, Tula Mia, Azmat Ali, Raghunath Shil, Piyush Kanti Saha and Haji Shariful Islam, said the bridge's capacity was simply overwhelmed when vehicle numbers surge.
They called for the bridge to be widened or a second Jamuna Bridge to be built, saying the demand had now become a matter of urgency.
Haphazard parking, worn-out vehicles being pressed into service and passengers being picked up and dropped off anywhere along the highway also contributed to the annual Eid gridlock.
Executive Engineer of the Jamuna Bridge Site Office Syed Riaz Uddin said toll collection would run continuously for 24 hours without a break during the Eid journey, with 18 booths, nine on each side of the bridge, handling traffic.
Two separate booths for motorcycles will be set up on each side. He acknowledged, however, that the bridge could not cope with the pressure of a four-lane highway feeding into it, making it impossible to fully resolve the congestion despite efforts to do so.
Four-Lane Work Still Incomplete
Of the 65km of the country's second-largest highway that fall within Tangail district, from Gorai in Mirzapur Upazila to the Jamuna Bridge, the six-lane work, including service lanes from Joydebpur to Elenga, has been completed, allowing vehicles to move freely up to that point.
But the ongoing four-lane upgrade from Elenga to the Jamuna Bridge has narrowed the road, causing vehicles coming in on six lanes from Dhaka to slow sharply the moment they hit this stretch, triggering severe tailbacks.
Rabiul Awal, project manager of contractor Abdul Monem Limited, said about 80 percent of the four-lane work on both sides of the highway had been completed ahead of Eid, with flyover and underpass work around 50 percent done.
He said the four-lane road would be fully opened to traffic for the Eid journey, meaning there should be no congestion on the highway itself, though the bridge bottleneck could still cause some problems.
Special Traffic Measures
A meeting of Tangail's district road safety committee was held on Sunday afternoon to work out how to keep the Eid homeward journey moving.
The meeting was presided over by district administrator Sharifa Haque and attended by Police Superintendent (SP) Md Shamsul Alam Sarker, Additional District Magistrate Md Mahbub Hasan, Executive Engineer of the Roads and Highways Department Synthia Azmiri Khan, Jamuna Bridge Site Office Executive Engineer Syed Riaz and BRTA Tangail Assistant Director Sheikh Mahtab Uddin Ahmed.
The meeting identified 13 spots on the highway most likely to see the worst congestion: Jamuna Bridge, Jamuna Bridge roundabout, Jokar Char, Elenga bus stand, Elenga-Mymensingh regional connector road, Elenga-Bhuapur regional connector road, Gharinda overbridge, Rabna bypass, Ashekpur bypass, Kortia bypass, Pakulla, Mirzapur town's regional road and Hatubhanga in Mirzapur.
Police said they were considering a special traffic plan, including diverting some vehicles from Elenga bus stand through Bhuapur via regional roads to the Jamuna Bridge roundabout to ease congestion.
SP Shamsul Alam said there was no reason to fear congestion on the highway this year. "Additional police will be deployed on the highway to ensure smooth movement of livestock trucks, goods vehicles and homebound travellers.
“Special surveillance and tight security will be in place at key points along the highway to prevent theft, snatching and robbery."
He added that no temporary cattle markets would be allowed on or near the highway.
State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salahuddin Tuku said the BNP government is actively considering the construction of a second Jamuna bridge to ensure a safe, gridlock-free commute.
He noted that the administration has made advanced preparations, deploying special volunteer teams alongside law enforcement personnel.
Tuku urged drivers, passengers, pedestrians and the administration to remain vigilant to ensure a safe, comfortable holiday journey to the northern districts and prevent traffic fatalities.
