A 10-kilometer (Km) tailback was created on Dhaka- Chattogram highway due to huge pressure of vehicles centring the four-day public holiday that started on Thursday. Moreover, potholes on the highway contributed to the traffic congestion, causing immense suffering of commuters especially women, children and elderly people. The correspondent found traffic jam stretching from Shimrail intersection to Bandar’s Langalbanda in Narayanganj till 11am on Thursday. However, movement of the traffic was usual on the Dhaka-bound lane. Chhatogram-bound passenger Md Al-Amin said he reached Kanchpur Bridge from the Signboard area in one and a half hours. “Don’t know how much time it will take to pass the rest path.” Read: 8-km tailback created on Dhaka-Ctg highway Another passenger Ashraful said the joy of going home on the four-day holiday got shattered due to the traffic jam. Kanchpur Highway Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge Reazul Haque admitting the long tailback said that they were working to bring back normalcy on the highway. Government employees are travelling to different destinations as they got a 4-day holiday as the government extended the Durga Puja holiday by a day and the weekly holidays coincided with the puja holiday. Read more: Flooding causes 65-kilometre long tailback on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway

The long weekend on the back of last week's Puja holiday has now sparked a 3-km long tailback at Goalondo’s Daulatdia ferry terminal on Sunday evening, as hundreds of vehicles with holidaymakers kept waiting to cross the river on their way back home. The long line of slow-moving vehicles crossed Daulatdia canal ghat area on Dhaka-Khulna highway, as some of the passengers complained about being stuck for more than three hours in the afternoon. The pressure of Dhaka-bound vehicles at Daulatdia point was compounded from Sunday noon with the addition of a large number of Muslim devotees heading toward Faridpur’s Atrashi Darbar Sharif for Eid-e-Miladunnabi, said Firoz Ahmmed, terminal supervisor of Lalon Paribahan bus service from Kushtia. Many of the passengers told the UNB reporter they were heading towards Dhaka to join their workstations after the Durga Puja Holiday. Alamin Sheikh, a bus passenger returning to Atroshi from Faridpur, said that he was a part of a team loaded in three buses from Gazipur on Saturday night to observe Eid Miladunnabi at Atorshi. Read: 35 km tailback on Dhaka-Chattogram highway after road accident “I started to return to Gazipur at Sunday noon and remained stuck here since then,” he said. At least 180 such vehicles returning from Atroshi also remained stuck in the long traffic. There are 16 small and big ferries on the Daulatdia-Paturia route but only 10 of them  are operational and rest are kept in the floating factory at Paturia as there was a lack of traffic after inauguration of Padma Bridge, said Md. Salah Uddin, Daulatdia office manager, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Amid the increased pressure of vehicles due to holiday and Eid-e-Miladunnabi from Sunday afternoon, we may make all the 16 ferries operational if necessary, he said.

A 35 km long tailback was created on Dhaka-Chattogram highway after a goods-laden lorry overturned near Nuritala area in Chandina upazila early Thursday. “A freight truck that overturned near Nuritala area created the long tailback from Cumilla Cantonment to Gouripur in Daudkandi as vehicles had to move through just one lane,”said Md Rahmat Ulla, Superintendent of Cumilla Highway police. The vehicle movement returned to normal after five hours when the lorry was removed from the road, he said.   “I started for Dhaka from Cumilla at 9 am and got stuck in a long traffic jam after reaching near Cumilla Cantonment area. After five hours around 2:30 pm I reached near Sonargaon upazila,” Shobuj Choton, a student, told UNB. Read: 25 km long tailback on Dhk-Ctg highway

Commuters heading home ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Azha had to suffer through a 35km-long tailback on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangbandhu Bridge Highway in the district on Saturday. What began as usual snarls on the high-speed corridor late on Friday night turned into monster jams by this morning -- all due to a mad rush of vehicles carrying home-bound people and sacrificial animals ahead of the festival. Ataur Rahman, in-charge of Elenga Highway Police, attributed the 35km-long tailback to some unruly motorists "who have scant regard for traffic rules". "The highway police and the district police are working jointly to bring the traffic situation under control.” The tailback triggered jams on many internal roads of the district -- the stretch near Government Shamsul Haque College being one of the worst hit with some motorists trying to use it as an alternative route to reach their destinations. At few other places, jams intensified as few motorists tried to reverse their vehicles to take internal roads to bypass some stretches of the highway. Also read: Mawa-Bhanga expressway witnesses huge traffic snarl on first day of toll collection Unable to bear the sweltering heat, many women got off vehicles with their babies on the highway. Roadside mosques allowed passengers to use their toilets while local residents offered drinking water to the travellers. UNB Sirajganj Correspondent reports: A 15km-long gridlock was seen on the Bangabandhu Bridge Highway at Kaddar intersection, causing immense sufferings to the northern district-bound people a day before Eid. The tailback stretched from Golchattar to Nalka Bridge, forcing vehicles to crawl on the highway. Mosaddek Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bangabandhu Bridge West Police Station, said "the heavy pressure of vehicles and home-bound people are responsible for the tailback". Law enforcers and volunteers have been working on the highway since morning to ease the gridlock, he added. Though the Eid vacation began on Saturday, a large number of people left the capital on Friday itself taking advantage of the long weekend.    

A 30-kilometre tailback was created due to the increased number of vehicles on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangbandhu Bridge Highway in Tangail on Friday.Hundreds of vehicles with passengers, goods and cattle were moving very slowly on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway due to long tailbacks, causing immense sufferings to Eid holidaymakers.‘The highway is witnessing a 30-kilometre traffic jam from Bangabandhu Bridge East side to Nagarjolfoi Bypass area of Tangail. The traffic jam has been created due to the increasing number of vehicles ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, according to Md Ataur Rahman, in-charge of Elenga Highway Police.Law enforcers are working to control traffic at various important points and intersections, he said, adding that surveillance has also been increased. Also read: Mawa-Bhanga expressway witnesses huge traffic snarl on first day of toll collectionVehicular movement would become normal as time advances, expected the officer.On Friday afternoon, People were seen going to their respective destinations using different vehicles, including cattle laden trucks, pickups, and motorcycles.Due to the tailback, the homebound passengers, especially children and women have become the worst sufferers with having no toilet facilities on their way.Roxana Akter, a Lalmonirhat-bound passenger, said she is worried about reaching home as it had taken more than eight hours to reach Elenga-Bhunapur link road in Kalihati upazila.She also claimed that on the way, while stuck in the tailback, they had paid astronomical prices for food and drinking water to the hawkers.

The Padma Bridge witnessed huge pressure of traffic and a crowd of onlookers Sunday, the very first day it opened for vehicular movement, creating tailbacks on both sides of the long-awaited bridge. The sheer volume of vehicles that showed up to cross the bridge from either side led to an excruciating wait at the toll plazas, to pay the toll and get cleared to go. This primarily was the source of the tailbacks. Hundreds of vehicles including buses, trucks, private cars, motorbikes, and ambulances were seen waiting in front of the two toll plazas at Mawa point and Nowdoba point of Shariatpur.  They are not maintaining queues and trying to cross each other haphazardly in front of the toll plazas. Besides, the process of collecting tolls is also very slow. Army personnel are finding it difficult to maintain discipline due to the unruly behaviour of the drivers. There are also hundreds of motorbikes on both ends of the bridge who seem to be there only for sightseeing. Vehicles remained stuck for over 2kms from Mawa point toll plaza and over 1.5 Km from Nowdoba point at around 8 pm. According to the witnesses, the traffic pressure kept increasing from the afternoon.

As Eid-ul-Fitr holiday came to an end people from south-western districts started returning to their workstations in the capital but the journey is taking more than 12 hours for many due to gridlock at Daulatdia ferry terminal. Shariful Islam, a trader from Barishal lying on the engine cover of a Dhaka-bound bus on Sunday morning, said he started around 7 pm on Saturday from his house and got on the bus around 9 pm. His bus was standing still three kilometers away from the terminal as he was talking to the UNB reporter. Also read: Dhaka-bound people suffer for 10-km gridlock near Daulatdia Like Shariful, hundreds of passengers were seen waiting to cross the river as the long tailback of vehicles on the Dhaka-Khulna highway crossed six kilometers and kept getting longer by the hour. To decrease the pressure on the terminal police have started stopping vehicles 13 kilometers from the terminal near the Ahladipur area in Rajbari sadar upazila.Hundreds of private vehicles reached the terminal crossing an extra eight-kilometer path from Padmar Mor and Jamidar Bridge area through Ujan Char and Char Daulatdia. Some drivers complained local influential people and brokers were charging extra money from the drivers of goods-laden vehicles with the help of police as they were given priority for crossing the river. Abul Bashar, a fruits trader from Barguna said he started around 8 pm with 22 tonnes of watermelon on a covered van to Dhaka and got stuck in the traffic around 11 pm. He said, “I had to collect a ticket paying Tk 4,000 instead of regular Tk 1,800 as they were allowing us to pass specially. Yet a huge number of my watermelons perished due to long 13 hours of wait amid heat.” According to the Daulatdia office of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), 11, 593 vehicles crossed the Padma River in the last 24 hours till Sunday 6 am through ferry from Daulatdia terminal. Also read: Ferry services resume on Paturia-Daulatdia route after 4 hours Md Shihab Uddin, manager of BIWTA Daulatdia office, said a record number of vehicles have crossed the river from this terminal in 24 hours. “On Saturday noon two of the 21 ferries operating on Daulatdia-Paturia route became disable but both of them resumed operation again in the evening. Currently all the ferries are operating from five terminals but due to worn-out roads and increased pressure of all the vehicles of Shimulia-Banglabazar route there is the long tailback”, said the BIWTA official. Meanwhile, around 30,000 passengers crossed the river by 166 launches from Daulatdia terminal, said Nurul Anwar, spokesperson for Aricha Launch Owners’ Association in Daulatdia. He said after 10 pm Saturday launch trips were reduced considering risk as most of the launches were carrying almost double their capacity of passengers.

A 15- kilometre long tailback formed on the west side of Bangabandhu Bridge in Sirajganj as commuters headed home ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr on Friday. Massive traffic jams were witnessed from Bangabandhu Bridge Gorchatbar area to Nalka intersection as a truck broke down at Balukol area of Kamarkhand upazila, said Mosaddek Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bangabandhu Bridge West Police Station. Read: Roads better than ever, BNP lost their way: Obaidul Quader The quick response team of the police rushed to the spot and removed the broken truck and the traffic got normal in the afternoon, he added. The OC also mentioned that about 600 policemen are on duty to reduce traffic congestion on the district highways.

A two- day  Ashtami Snan(bathing festival), a  Hindu religious ritual,  has triggered a 17 kilometers long tailback  on Dhaka Chattogram highway on Saturday. The number of Hindu devotees crossed 10 lakh this year as they gathered on the bank of Brahmaputra River at Langalbandh in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj after the bathing festival remained suspended for two years due to the Covid pandemic, said the local administration. Meanwhile, Jayedul Alam, Superintendent of Narayanganj police said, “ Some 9 lakh devotees who have arrived here from different  corners of the country have parked vehicles carrying them haphazardly and went to take a bath which has created gridlock on the highway.” Also read: 20km long tailback on Dhaka-Ctg highway following road crashes However, police are trying to ease the traffic movement by sending the vehicles to the designated  parking areas, he said.

After passing horrific time stuck in severe traffic jam in the past two days, commuters in Dhaka breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday as many residents left the capital on a 3-day vacation. The number of vehicles was relatively thin in the capital as Thursday was the public holiday to be followed by two weekends. Many Dhaka dwellers left the capital for home or tourist spots and resorts to spend the holidays. But the huge rush of holidaymakers created long tailbacks on different highways. Also read: 20km long tailback on Dhaka-Ctg highway following road crashes UNB Cumilla correspondent reports: Hundreds of vehicles and commuters got stuck in a 12-kilometer long tailback on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Cumilla on Thursday afternoon. On the occasion of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu's birthday and National Children's Day, weekly holiday and Holy Shab-e Barat, people got a three-day holiday from Thursday to Saturday which created huge pressure of vehicles on the highway, said Zahurul Haque, officer-in-charge (OC) of Daudkandi Highway Police Station.