Managing Eid traffic

The government ought to take up a crash programme immediately to ease the huge tailbacks on the highways and make the passengers’ strenuous travel easier. People will travel through the highways three days more before Eid and if the chaotic condition of vehicles on highways cannot be addressed, it will create immense sufferings for the home-goers.  
During the time of any Eid every year, pressure of vehicles on the highways become greater and the relevant authorities including the communications ministry usually take up programmes beforehand to tackle the traffic. Not always they become successful though. The role of highway police particularly becomes crucial on the highways during two weeks before and after the Eid vacation. Managing the rush of vehicles is just a gigantic task and relevant authorities ought to stand up for the challenge.
Since most of the highways are still in their two-lane state, barring some exception, traffic on them become messy, particularly on the highway connecting the capital to the northern regions. In this regard, the stretches of road from Dhaka to Tangail up to Bangabandhu Bridge are very vital and here every year during the Eid, buses remain standstill for hours together as they could not move forward because of the narrowness of the infrastructure.
During Eid ul-Azha, truckloads of cows/goats come from different places of the country to the capital’s cattle markets and despite the fact that the government officially prohibits holding cattle market near the highways, people indeed walk cattle on the highway which contributes also to the problem of traffic jam.
Now, sooner or later, the crucial road link between Dhaka and Tangail must be expanded to four-lane one—the sooner it is done the better—but for tackling the present chaos on the highway and alleviating the sufferings of passengers, there is no alternative to disciplining the traffic and that is why sufficient number of police personnel ought to be employed in the strategically important places including the both sides of Bangabandhu Bridge where jams seem to be heavy this year. Besides, for immediate towing of vehicles that go static on the road, necessary preparations have to be taken up. According to reports, the Roads and Highways Department has opened a control room at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) office in the capital to ensure the smooth journey of home-goers. While this kind of measure is of little or no help for passengers who get struck on the road for hours together, special care must be taken so that trucks, covered vans and lorries do not ply on the highway during this time.

 

 

Managing Eid traffic

The government ought to take up a crash programme immediately to ease the huge tailbacks on the highways and make the passengers strenuous travel easier. People will travel through the highways three days more before Eid and if the chaotic condition of vehicles on highways cannot be addressed, it will create immense sufferings for the home-goers. During the time of any Eid every year, pressure of vehicles on the highways become greater and the relevant authorities including the communications ministry usually take up programmes beforehand to tackle the traffic. Not always they become successful though. The role of highway police particularly becomes crucial on the highways during two weeks before and after the Eid vacation. Managing the rush of vehicles is just a gigantic task and relevant authorities ought to stand up for the challenge. Since most of the highways are still in their two-lane state, barring some exception, traffic on them become messy, particularly on the highway connecting the capital to the northern regions. In this regard, the stretches of road from Dhaka to Tangail up to Bangabandhu Bridge are very vital and here every year during the Eid, buses remain standstill for hours together as they could not move forward because of the narrowness of the infrastructure. During Eid ul-Azha, truckloads of cows/goats come from different places of the country to the capitals cattle markets and despite the fact that the government officially prohibits holding cattle market near the highways, people indeed walk cattle on the highway which contributes also to the problem of traffic jam. Now, sooner or later, the crucial road link between Dhaka and Tangail must be expanded to four-lane onethe sooner it is done the betterbut for tackling the present chaos on the highway and alleviating the sufferings of passengers, there is no alternative to disciplining the traffic and that is why sufficient number of police personnel ought to be employed in the strategically important places including the both sides of Bangabandhu Bridge where jams seem to be heavy this year. Besides, for immediate towing of vehicles that go static on the road, necessary preparations have to be taken up. According to reports, the Roads and Highways Department has opened a control room at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) office in the capital to ensure the smooth journey of home-goers. While this kind of measure is of little or no help for passengers who get struck on the road for hours together, special care must be taken so that trucks, covered vans and lorries do not ply on the highway during this time.