Bridge repairs trigger 50km tailback on Dhaka-Ctg highway

A severe traffic jam stretching nearly 40-50 kilometres brought the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway to a near standstill for over 24 hours, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in sweltering heat and reportedly claiming the life of a heart patient stuck in an ambulance.

The congestion began on Friday morning after emergency repair work started on the Dhaka-bound lane of a bridge at Ashariarchar in Sonargaon, Narayanganj, and gradually spread to Daudkandi and Chandina in Cumilla. 

Local residents said vehicles remained stranded for more than 24 hours, with women, children and elderly passengers suffering the most amid shortages of drinking water and food.

According to the Roads and Highways Department, a large pothole had developed on the bridge’s Dhaka-bound lane following several days of rain, prompting authorities to close one lane for repairs. As traffic volume rose, the tailback stretched as far as Chandina.

Md Mamun, a driver of Shanti Paribahan, said passengers were suffering immensely. Humayun Azad, a driver of Saint Martin Paribahan, said he had been stuck for around eight hours. 

Daudkandi highway police station Officer-in-Charge Prem Das Roy said the closed lane was the main cause of the congestion between Daudkandi and Meghna Toll Plaza, adding that police were working to ease it.

Meanwhile, Amirunnesa, a resident of Pranbhagabatipur village in Lakshmipur’s Chandraganj upazila, reportedly died inside an ambulance after suffering a heart attack on Friday evening. 

Her relative Tarek Al Hasan said the ambulance, which left around 8pm, reached Daudkandi by 11pm but remained nearly stationary for four hours before she died around 3:30am.

Highway police reopened the repaired lane around 9am on Saturday, and traffic began easing after about an hour and a half of efforts by highway police, though officials said clearing the backlog could take time.

Meanwhile, Md Alrazi Lyon, sub-divisional engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, told BSS on Saturday evening that vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway under Gozaria upazila in the district had returned to normal following the completion of the bridge repair work by 10am.