Commuters suffer due to gridlock on Dhaka-Ctg highway

Long tailbacks were created on four different spots on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway due to separate incidents of road damage and accidents in Daudkandi upazila of Comilla and Sitakunda Upazila of Chittagong from Thursday evening to Friday night. A huge 22-km long traffic jam, from Bhatiari to Bara Awlia, has disrupted vehicular movement in Chittagong's Sitakunda Upazila for more than 10 hours since 7:30pm on Thursday. As Thursday was the last working day of the week, there was more traffic on the highway. Vehicular movement got severely disrupted when engine of a truck broke down amid huge traffics in Bhatiari. Soon the traffic jam spread to Bhatiari, Bara Awlia, Sitakunda municipal area, Kumira, and Mirshwarai. A police officer of highway police on condition of anonymity said, 'We do not have crane to remove heavy vehicles. We requisitioned a private crane from a local shipyard to remove the stranded truck. By that time, a huge tailback was created that continued till Friday.' Local residents of Sitakunda said that last week's rain left many potholes in various parts of Dhaka-Chittagong highway. They also slowed down vehicular movement. Besides, some portion of four-lane highway was temporarily closed for development works. This has narrowed the highway and slowed down the pace of vehicles. Iliotganj highway police in Comilla said said vehicular movement was disrupted on Dhaka-Chittagong highway near the Iliotganj Bridge as a lorry loaded with goods got stuck in the middle of the road for hours. The land near the elevation of the bridge slid down and the axle of the lorry was broken while it was crossing the bridge. No casualty was reported in the incident, but it created a 50-km tailback on the highway from Padua Bazar Bishwa Road to Raipur area. Meanwhile, Iliotganj highway police camp’s sub-inspector Maruf Hossain said a 10-kilometre tailback was created from Chandina Upazila to Madhaia area in the upazila due to the creation of a large pothole on the highway. Officer-in-charge Daudkandi highway police station M Mizanur Rahman said numerous potholes have been created on the highway due to heavy rainfall. Commuters are the worst sufferers, police and the witnesses said, according to agencies.