Slow toll collection causes traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge Highway

Due to the pressure of additional vehicles and the slowness in collecting toll at the Jamuna Bridge toll plaza, traffic jams have been created in a 30-kilometer area on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge Highway.

Since Wednesday (March 18) night, traffic jams have been created from the Jamuna Bridge toll plaza in Elenga to Karatipara. People are suffering greatly due to this. Especially women, children and the elderly are suffering a lot.

The affected passengers complained that the slowness and mismanagement in collecting toll at the Jamuna Bridge toll plaza are intensifying the traffic jam on this route. They said that although there is no traffic jam anywhere on the road, traffic jam is seen for miles on both sides of the toll collection box at the bridge. Often, the traffic jam extends beyond the area of ​​12-15 kilometers.

As of 2:00 pm on Thursday, there was a queue of vehicles for about one and a half kilometers in the Rajshahi-bound lane of the toll plaza of the Jamuna Bridge connection road in Sirajganj. However, although there was a traffic jam in the North Bengal-bound lane on the eastern end of the bridge, the Dhaka-bound lane was completely empty.

The Jamuna Bridge Authority said that in the last 24 hours, a total of 51,584 vehicles have crossed the Jamuna Bridge on both sides. A toll of Tk 34,31,900 has been collected. Of which, 32,840 have crossed from the eastern end and 18,744 from the western end. From 12:00 am on Wednesday to 10:00 am, 15 vehicles were broken down on the Jamuna Bridge. This created a long traffic jam on the North Bengal-bound lane on the eastern end of the bridge.

To reduce the traffic jam, the bridge was made one-way and vehicles were allowed to cross in two lanes towards North Bengal. As a result, vehicles quickly crossed the bridge and traffic on the bridge returned to normal in a short time.

Elenga Highway Police Outpost In-charge OC Md. Sharif said that the speed of the highway is slow due to reckless driving of vehicle drivers. Police are working on the highway to ensure smooth Eid journey.

Executive Engineer of Jamuna Bridge Side Office Syed Riaz Uddin said that 15 vehicles broke down on the bridge from 12 midnight to 10 am. Due to this, a long traffic jam was created in the North Bengal-bound lane at the eastern end of the bridge. Later, to avoid this traffic jam, vehicles were allowed to cross towards North Bengal through two lanes in one direction. Now the vehicles are crossing the bridge quickly. As a result, traffic movement on the bridge will be normal in a short time.