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Shaky Bailey bridges pose risk on Tangail-Aricha road

Commuters, transport owners demand permanent bridge at 12 spots

Mirza Shakil, Tangail
All the 12 Bailey bridges in Tangail portion of Tangail-Aricha road are now in dilapidated conditions, posing risk for a large number of vehicles including passenger buses, goods-laden trucks and light vehicles.
The stakeholders have demanded construction of permanent bridges at the spots and widening of the road.
Of the 55.5-kilometre-long Tangail-Aricha road, 35.5-kilometre area is in Tangail district and the rest in Manikganj, said officials of Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Tangail.
Starting from Tangail town, the road joins Dhaka-Aricha Highway at Borongail of Manikganj after crossing the Dhaleswari River and moving through Delduar and Nagarpur upazilas in Tangail and Doulatpur and Ghior upazilas of Manikganj.
When the road was constructed over two decades ago, the 12 bridges were constructed in Chasha Bhadra,
Dhuburia, Ararakumar, Tengripara, Tirsa, Bhalkutia, Barapusha, Thana Intersection, Dhalapara and Khorshed Market areas under Nagarpur, Delduar and Sadar upazilas of Tangail.
Vehicular movement on the road saw a great increase after opening of Dhaleswari Bridge on the road at Elasin in Delduar upazila in 2013 as vehicles no longer needed to cross the river by ferry to go to Aricha.
A number of passenger buses and goods-laden trucks from southern districts use the road to go to different districts including Tangail, Sherpur and Jamalpur while several hundred CNG-run auto-rickshaws use the road daily for local communications.
Movement of a large number of vehicles turned the old Bailey bridges risky and the RHD has set cautionary signs on both ends of the bridges.
The steel-made decks of the Bailey bridges have decayed and light vehicles like motorcycles often slip there, locals said.
The bridges shake when any heavy vehicle move on, they said.
"The Bailey bridge here was repaired after a goods-laden truck got stuck on it due to displacement of steel plate on the deck in January this year," said Jafar Ali of Tirsa village.
Azizul, Haque, driver of a truck plying the road, said he feels anxious while crossing the shaky Bailey bridges.
Golam Kibria, general secretary of Tangail District Bus-Minibus Owners' Association, said they demand construction of permanent bridges at the 12 spots and widening of the road to ease communication between greater Mymensingh region and southern districts through Aricha.
Aminul Ehsan, executive engineer of RHD in Tangail, said a proposal to construct permanent bridges to replace the Bailey bridges and widen the road was sent to the higher authorities and the works can be started after approval of the proposal.