Several vehicles breaking down on Bangabandhu Bridge also added to traffic woes

People's trips north to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr at home in thousands of vehicles have caused a traffic jam spanning a seven-kilometre area on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, one of the busiest roads during the season, causing immense suffering to passengers as well as drivers amid an ongoing heatwave.

After Thursday midnight, there was a gridlock from the eastern side of the Bangabandhu Bridge to Analiabari in Kalihati upazila of Tangail.

Several vehicles shut off suddenly on the Bangabandhu Bridge due to engine failure, adding to the traffic woes. They had to be removed by the bridge authorities. 

Besides, one of the toll plazas was closed twice for some time at night.

Habib, a truck driver, said: “It usually takes about nine hours to reach Natore from Chittagong. But I left with my truck 23 hours ago and still have not reached the bridge. I do not know if I will be able to reach [Natore] today due to the traffic jam.”

“It takes a maximum of four hours to reach Pabna from Dhaka on normal days. I left Dhaka at 9pm on Friday. There is no jam from Mirzapur to Elenga, but after crossing Elenga I got into heavy traffic,” said bus driver Abdur Razzak.

Zahid Hassan, officer-in-charge of Elenga highway police station, said the number of vehicles on the highway had increased astronomically in the last few days.

“A couple of vehicles broke down on the bridge at dawn (on Friday), causing more congestion,” he said, assuring that the road would clear up soon.