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Traffic nightmare for city dwellers

Eid shopping rush, metro rail construction cause long tailbacks on major roads

Mahbubur Rahman Khan and Shaheen Moliah
Although traffic congestion has become way too common in the capital, the Eid shopping spree and ongoing construction work of metro rail in the middle of roads has exacerbated its severity.
The construction work of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project has halved the road space on one of the busiest parts of Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue.
People have also been suffering because of the shopping spree and holiday-makers rushing out of the city. The tailbacks become unbearable in the scorching heat.
The World Bank in an analysis two years ago said the average traffic speed in the capital per hour has dropped in a decade from 21km to just 7km, which is only slightly above the average walking speed.
Congestion in Dhaka costs about 3.2 million working hours every day, it said.
"In the last few days, it has been taking more than two hours to reach Karwanbazar from Sadarghat. It takes nearly an hour to go across Tantibazar and another to go past Shahbagh intersection," said Sohel, assistant of a bus of Bihanga Paribahan.
"Before the Ramadan, we used to make four round trips. Now we only have time for three," he told The Daily Star.
Due to construction work, the road from Shahbagh to Mirpur has been narrowed. Even at Iftar time, when streets become relatively quiet and empty, vehicles remain stationary on this road, thanks to the rush towards several shopping malls, including Basundhara City Complex and Shah Ali Market.
"The situation is worse than last year," said Ahmed Ali, a traffic constable at Shahbagh.
On weekends, the crowd of shoppers became so immense that police had to divert traffic at Begunbari as vehicles remained completely stationary on Panthapath in front of Basundhara.
Hundreds of shoppers walk between vehicles stuck on the road.
In recent days, the tailbacks became particularly longer near Matsya Bhaban, Shahbagh, Nightingale intersection, and on Hare Road.
Stuck on Mintoo Road, three-wheeler driver Abdul Helal pointed to his metre last week and said, "The waiting time is 82 minutes. It should not take more than 15 minutes to come here from Sadarghat."
The morning and afternoon traffic are the worst, he added.
People also suffered on Mirpur Road and Pragati Sharani and also on streets in Gulistan, Banani, Razarbagh and Mohakhali.
Jewel Ahmed, a resident of Basundhara Residential Area, said, "It's terrible. Traffic turns worst after evening as shoppers throng to the Jamuna Future Park."
Sometimes the traffic congestion stretches to Kuril Bishwa road from Notunbazar, he added.
At Mirpur-10 intersection, traffic Sergeant Jamal Hossain said twelve policemen were deployed to manage the traffic there. "But after 5:00pm, it's just chaos."