Bridge repairs trigger 50km tailback on Dhaka-Ctg highway, stranding travellers for hours

A traffic jam stretching nearly 50 kilometres has brought Dhaka-bound traffic on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway to a standstill, leaving thousands of passengers stranded for hours since last night (28 August).

As of the filing of this report at 9:30am today (29 August), the gridlock continued, with the tailback stretching from the Ashirar Char area of Narayanganj to Kutumbapur in Chandina upazila of Cumilla, according to Highway Police sources.

Repair work on a bridge in Ashirar Char has reduced the highway to one lane, causing the initial bottleneck. The congestion subsequently spread towards Cumilla, severely disrupting traffic along the route.

Premdas Roy, officer-in-charge of Daudkandi Highway Police Station, said repair work on the Narayanganj bridge was carried out by closing one lane from 6pm yesterday to 6am today.

“Both lanes were reopened in the morning. I hope the situation will normalise by 12 noon,” he said.

A traveller, Mohammad Hossain, said he had set out for Dhaka at night as his nephew was scheduled to catch a flight at noon today.

“I set out for Dhaka at night. On the way, I got stuck in the Daudkandi area. I waited until morning. Finding no remedy, I hired a van and set off for Dhaka. God only knows whether I can reach the airport in the end,” he said.

Journalist Mahmud Hasan said he became stuck in the Kutumbapur area of Chandina around 4:30am.

“After getting stuck, I initially thought this happened due to a road accident. Later, I called the Highway Police. They explained the reason for the gridlock and told me to wait until morning,” he said.