Staff Reporter :
The inexhaustible sufferings of the city commuters from normal business hours to midnight due to heavy traffic gridlock have become a signature feature of Dhaka city, experts said.
The authorities seem apathetic to the sufferings of the common people who are facing the traffic tailback whenever they move out of their homes.
Every day the common people are packed like sardines in rush-hour public transports as the vehicular movements almost come to a halt.
The well-off people inside the air-conditioned private vehicles might not feel the sunburn but even then they feel the jittery, sitting for long hours inside their luxury vehicles.
When residents of the capital plan to venture out, the thought sends shivers down their spines. Nobody knows when they will reach their destinations.
A 65-year old woman Jahanara started her journey by a bus Trans Silva from Mirpur-1 at 10:00am and reached Gulistan at 1:00pm on Monday.
“I feel out of my breath due to this traffic jam. When I think of travelling, I feel sick,” she added.
This heavy traffic gridlock not only kills the time but also costs a huge amount of money. Being stuck in a traffic jam for hours also affects the mental and physical health.
The horrendous traffic gridlock is nothing new rather it is being complicated day by day without any solution. The city residents experience severe traffic jams in Gabtoli, Mirpur, Uttara, Farmgate, Mahakhali, New Market, Press Club, Kakrail and Matijheel points of the mega city.
Due to the under-construction Metro Rail project, the roads along the project from Pallabi to Matijheel have narrowed, triggering the severe traffic jam.
The increased volume of transports compared to road space, unplanned traffic management, ubiquitous road digging for utility services and undergoing repair work round the year, occupation of footpaths, scarcity of parking lots, haphazard driving are some of the major causes behind the traffic jams.
Besides, abrupt checking of fitness certificates of the vehicles and documents of drivers by traffic police in the middle of the streets, jaywalking without caring rules and demonstrations by blocking roads exacerbate the traffic gridlock.
Due to perennial traffic gridlock, Dhaka has been labeled as the ‘city of traffic jam’. City planners pointed out that a megacity requires 25 per cent roads compared to its area but Dhaka possesses less than 10 per cent roads.
As per the report of Accident Research Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, due to the traffic jam in 2020 Bangladesh incurred an economic loss of Tk 56,000 crore while it cost Tk 37,000 crore in the year 2018. Five year back the work hours lost by traffic jams was five million hours, the report said.
According to Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Policy Research Institute (PRI), approximately six to 10 per cent of the country’s GDP is lost indirectly due to traffic gridlock.
The traffic management authority has held the opening of all offices, business houses, and educational institutions responsible for the jam after the two-year long pandemic.
Besides, the authorities have found haphazard parking on the roadside during schools, pressure of office-goers and shortage of parking lots responsible for the recent heavy traffic jam.
“The traffic jams have increased recently as all the educational institutions and offices are open now after the pandemic. We are struggling to ease the problem,” Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Munibur Rahman told The New Nation.
Observing this compounding congestion, the Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam came up with the idea that his office wants to be involved in traffic management.
On several occasions, he told the media that research work should be conducted to identify the root causes and vehicles should be run based on the basis of ‘odd and even number on the number plates’. From his understanding it can be assumed that increasing the volume of vehicles compared to road capacity is a big reason for the failure of a smooth traffic system.
The government and authorities concerned took various initiatives including construction of road dividers, footbridge, underpass, flyover to decongest the city but all in vain. Even mega projects like Metro Rail, Elevated Express Way have been under-construction for over six years and these projects have narrowed the way.
“Several projects have been taken to ease traffic jam. Over the years we have been demanding for public transports and pedestrian-friendly footpaths,” architect and city planner Iqbal Habib told The New Nation on Monday. “Our survey tells us that 44 per cent people can go to their destination on foot with a distance of two kilometers while 34 per cent people want to use buses. In absence of pedestrian-friendly footpath, these people resort to jaywalking in the streets,” he added.
Criticising the authorities of traffic management like Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, he said, “Lack of coordination in traffic management is a big reason for the jams. But the authority is indifferent.”
The city planners suggested introducing modern traffic management, eviction of illegal structures from footpaths, construction of lane for buses, stopping the rickshaws movement in the main roads, timely renovation of the dilapidated roads, stopping the haphazard picking and dropping of passengers.
“Unless the authorities concerned take any serious steps, we don’t see any foreseeable solution for easing traffic jams,” Iqbal Habib said.
