A smart and well-designed city is a blessing for all citizens as it provides much ease of physical communication. The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has been trying to give the capital city a makeover that will turn it into a well-planned city. But the U-turn system introduced by it cannot be an effective solution for Dhaka city as it will create massive gridlock during the peak traffic time, say experts.
The DNCC on Saturday inaugurated 11 U-turns at different points of the road from Tejgaon Satrasta janction to Uttara House Building to ease the sufferings of the commuters. However, soon after the inauguration, severe gridlocks were seen in some of the areas. It was evident that the U-turns have caused traffic congestion on both sides of the roads. Gridlock was seen in Nabisco and Mohakhali bus terminal areas and in front of the Shetu Bhaban in Banani. The newly introduced U-turns have narrowed down the roads near those and other areas, making it harder for vehicles to turn to other lanes.
Experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have said U-turn project is not a pedestrian friendly system, leaving no solution for pedestrians to cross the road. It is in no way an effective solution for a mega city like Dhaka. It will be counter operative during the pick hours. Traffic police can only play a role when people want to cross the road in this U-turn system. However, they added, it will work in a premature city, where there is fewer traffic.
Actually, according to them, those who formulated this plan to implement for this city do not know the science of traffic management. But when a city become large, U-turn system become counter-productive as large number of traffic coming from other direction (relatively slow speed) created massive gridlock. Continuing, they said that U-turn project would be ineffective for left maneuver roads like ours. All the vehicles of our country run on left side of the road and stop on the left side. U-turn creates problem, as our vehicles do not stop at the right side.
