Concerns have been surfacing about expected snarl in and around Padma Multi-purpose Bridge from more than a week before its opening to the public transport in later part of the current month.
Getting worried about the possible traffic congestion at the entry point of the capital after the Padma Bridge opening, stakeholders were looking for a solution to the imminent problem since the date of the PMB's inauguration was announced.
For the time being, they have found a way out of the crisis, suggesting to free the surface road under the Gulistan-Jatrabari Mayor Hanif Flyover as one of the options to lessen traffic jam on the highway after the bridge's inauguration.
Noting that there is no diversion road to share the heavy load of traffic, they viewed that the surface road can accommodate a considerable number of vehicles from the Saidabad-Jatrabari point of the Mayor Hanif Flyover.
They came up with the view while attending a meeting at the conference room of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) on Sunday with its Executive Director in-charge Nilima Akter in the chair.
The DTCA organised the event to find a solution to the possible gridlock anticipated by the stakeholders as soon as public transports are allowed to run on the Padma Brdige.
The meeting also suggested for taking short, medium and long term initiatives to ensure that the Padma Bridge and Dhaka Mawa expressway remained operable all time following PMB's ianuguration.
Representatives from the Highway Police, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Bridges Authority, Dhaka South City Corporation, Narayanganj and Gazipur city corporations, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhya, Savar Pourasava, Dhaka Mass Tranist Company and Dhaka Bus Transit Company attended the meeting.
Additional Police Super Nazmus Sakib Khan shared that at present 7,000 to 8,000 vehicles are crossing Padma River through ferry at Mawa everyday and a majore portion of the vehicles are motorcycles, private cars and microbuses. The number is expected to be double following the bridge's opening and the vehicles may get stuck at Dhaka city's entry point in absence of an alternative road, he said.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (police) Gobinda Chandra Pal said traffic system in the capital will collapse if the road below Mayor Hanif Flyover and the Postogola point are not made operational before the inauguration.
