The Padma Bridge authorities have collected Tk 41.9 million in tolls on the first day of the Eid-ul-Azha holidays, the highest daily tally since the megastructure opened to traffic on June 26.
A record 31,723 vehicles used the bridge to travel to and from the country's southwestern region in the 24 hours to Friday midnight, according to Mahmudur Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Bridge Authority.
Some 19,667 vehicles accessed the bridge from the Mawa end during that time, accounting for Tk 24.7 million of the total revenue.
Meanwhile, tolls worth Tk 17.1 million were collected at the Zajira end, from which 12,056 vehicles ascended the bridge, reports bdnews24.com.
"People are going back to their villages for the Eid holidays so it's only natural that more vehicles would leave Dhaka," said Mahmudur.
The 6.15-km-long bridge establishes direct road links between Dhaka and 21 disadvantaged districts in the southwest. More than 245,000 vehicles crossed the two-tier structure in the first 12 days of operation. The previous single-day toll collection record was Tk 31.6 million on Jul 1.
