The long-awaited Purbachal Expressway will connect the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway with the capital. According to Rajuk, the capital development authority, the expressway will be ready to be inaugurated in the next 2-3 months. Billed as one of the most spectacular and attractive expressways in south and eastern Asia, it will connect Dhaka’s Progoti Swaroni and Airport Road to the Eastern Bypass. There will be no traffic signals on the 12.5-km long expressway, which will have upto 14 lanes. According to Rajuk, a 6.5-km stretch of the 12.5-km expressway, from the capital’s Kuril area to the Balu River, is being constructed with 14 lanes. Of these 14 lanes, eight will be part of the main expressway, while the remaining six lanes will be used as service roads for the movement of local vehicles. The 6-km stretch of the expressway from the Balu River to Kanchan Bridge will have 12 lanes - six forming the expressway, six as service roads. At present, 95 percent of the project is complete, said sources at Rajuk. Read More: RAJUK lauches work on deep tube wells for Purbachal New Town project  The cost of construction of the expressway has been estimated at Tk 764 crore. As part of the project, 10 large bridges will be built at an estimated cost of Tk 488 crore. The construction of the expressway from Kuril Bishwa Road to Kanchan Bridge is in the final stages. Currently the construction of drainage systems along the roads and canals is going on. In many places, dividers are being installed. The Bangladesh Army's 24 Engineer Construction Brigade is implementing the project. Meanwhile, Rajuk is currently digging 100-foot-wide canals on both sides of the Kuril-Purbachal Link road with the help of the Army, to preclude waterlogging. Rajuk Chairman Anisur Rahman Miah told UNB recently that most of this work is complete. Also read: Construction underway of iconic Bangabandhu Tri-Tower at Purbachal There will also be 13 arched bridges, like the ones in Hatirjheel, costing an estimated Tk 227 crore. Five at-grade intersections are being constructed so that vehicles in the adjacent areas can use the service lanes to get on the expressway at the same grade or elevation. A subway will be added to the expressway under each intersection, according to Rajuk. Besides, a four-kilometer drainage line for rain water, two culverts and 12 water bus stands will be constructed in the project area. In addition, the number of pedestrian-bridges has been increased from the four mentioned in the original project outline of 2015 to 12, the number of pump houses from one to five, and the number of sluice gates from four to ten. Read More: Iconic Purbachal CBD project launched “The entire project will be completed in a quick time," Anisur Rahman said. "Hopefully, it will be inaugurated within the next three months. Once complete, the road communication between the capital and Purbachal will be modernised. Rajuk and police will work jointly to provide adequate security on the roads.” Regarding the canal reclamation project, Anisur said: “Once there were three major canals - Dumni, Boalia, and AD-8 -that would drain the rainwater out of the Airport, Nikunja, Baridhara and surrounding areas. However, those canals are completely gone.” “We’re hoping to reclaim those canals with this project,” he added. The plan to dig and develop a 100-foot-wide canal on either side of the Kuril-Purbachal link road was approved at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on November 4, 2018. The Rajuk chairman hopes that the canals will help to solve the waterlogging problem in the Kuril, Baridhara, Nikunja and Airport areas during monsoon. Read More: Hasina unveils state-of-the-art exhibition centre in Purbachal The Rajuk chairman said that once all the work is complete, the area would also present 'the nearest tourist spot' to Dhaka. The estimated cost of the Purbachal Expressway project was originally Tk 5,287 crore, back in 2015. The addition of three additional canals, roads, bridges, and other elements described above have added an extra Tk 5,043 crore. The overall cost of the project has thus nearly doubled to Tk 10,330 crore.

Three members of a family were among five dead and three others were injured in a collision that involved a truck, a pick-up, and a microbus on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in the early hours of Saturday (January 07, 2023). The deceased are microbus driver Sadir Ali, 25, of Kamlatila village, Abdus Salam, 32, of Barachara village under Kamalganj upazila; Sadia, 21, wife of Abdus Salam, their two-year-old daughter Habiba, and Sadia’s brother Atiqur Rahman Shihab, 15.     Read more: Road crash leaves two dead in Keraniganj Ashraful Alam, a relative of the victims, said all the passengers of the microbus were relatives who were returning home after receiving a relative named Razu, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Malaysia, at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.    Abdur Razzak, officer-in-charge of Madhabpur police station, said the accident occurred when a Moulvibazar-bound microbus collided head-on with a pick-up and a truck when the pick-up was trying to overtake the truck — leaving the driver of the microbus and four other passengers of the vehicle dead on the spot.  Read more: Bagerhat road crash leaves 3 dead The injured were first rushed to Madhabpur Upazila Health Complex and later were shifted to Sylhet Medical College Hospital. The victims’ bodies were handed over to the highway police.  

A van veered off the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Narsingdi and ploughed into a group of people walking along the high-speed corridor on Thursday morning, leaving  five of them dead. Police suspect the van driver dozed off at the wheel. The deceased were identified as Faruq Mia,50, Mashakin, 45, Ripon Mia, 35, Shahjahan Mia, 50,  and Bacchu Mia,30, all residents of the district's Raipura upazila. Read: Road accidents kill 4, injure 7 in five districts The accident occurred around 8am when the driver suddenly lost the control of the speeding van and hit the pedestrians near the Mahmudabad Bazar Machine House area, leaving three of them dead on spot, said Mozammel Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bhairab highway police station. Two injured were rushed to Bhairab Hospital where doctors declared one of them dead on arrival and another after few hours of admission, he said. Read: 2 killed, 10 hurt in Rajshahi road crash The bodies have been kept at the hospital morgue for post-mortem, the OC added. "Legal steps are underway in this regard."  

To ensure a hassle-free journey for home-bound people ahead of Eid, Brahmanbaria police Thursday carried out a drive against unauthorised vehicles on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway. Khatihata Highway Police's officer-in-charge Sukhendu Basu led the drive mainly against three wheelers and helmet-less bikers on the highway in Brahmanbaria this morning.  During the drive, the cops fined several unauthorised vehicles and bikers for riding without helmets on the high-speed corridor. Also read: Mad rush of homebound people at Shimulia ferry ghat Besides, police also monitored the speed of the vehicles moving on the highway. “We are performing our duties to ensure a hassle-free journey for homebound people ahead of Eid and free the highway from tailbacks," said the OC.    

Six years have gone by since a three-storey building was constructed at Bahubal in Habiganj to launch a trauma centre. Now local people are asking themselves why the 10-bed centre was built spending public money if it cannot start its function!      

At least four people, including three members of a family, were killed and two others injured in a road accident in Sylhet's Osmani Nagar Upazila on Thursday.

Two people were killed and 10 others injured in a road accident on Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Golchattar in Shayestaganj upazila on Tuesday.

Eleven people, including four members of a family, were killed and 10 others injured in separate road crashes in Sylhet, Habiganj and Gaibandha districts on Friday.

Plying of all vehicles on Sherpur and Kagajpur bridges on Dhaka-Sylhet Highway will remain suspended for four days due to repair works.

At least 25 people were killed and many others injured in road accidents in Habiganj, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Mymensingh, Cumilla, Dhaka and Panchagarh districts on Thursday night and Friday.