No alternative to underground roads, elevated highways to tackle traffic jam
Saturday, 13 February 2010
With an increasing number of new vehicles hitting the road everyday, officials concerned fear that Dhaka may turn into a dysfunctional city within a couple of years, reports UNB.
According to statistics, nearly 524,000 vehicles now ply the city streets everyday against 0.3 million in 2003, creating vexing tailbacks.
The vehicles include nearly 1,47,000 private cars, 59,000 microbuses and jeeps, 29,000 lorries, 8,300 passenger buses, 8,320 minibuses, 6,272 taxicabs, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and auto-tempos 19,591. Besides, the number of motorbikes is 217,800.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials said 125 motor vehicles were getting registered on an average everyday. Based on this figure, the officials said, 3,750 vehicles were hitting the city streets on average every month.
They said if this trend of registering new vehicles continues for next two years, the already overcrowded city streets would simply be exhausted turning the capital into a stalled city.
Dhaka City with 250-300 kilometres of roads has space for around 0.15 million vehicles. "So, the number of vehicles is around four times the capacity of the streets in the capital," said an official.
Talking to the news agency, DMP Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Shafiqur Rahman said Dhaka city had only eight per cent of roads against the ideal situation of 25 per cent.
Out of these 8 per cent roads, he said, 30 per cent were occupied with unauthorised car parking.
"Since it is difficult to construct new roads at this point of time, there is no alternative to building underground roads or elevated highways to tackle the traffic congestion.
DMP sources said there was no adequate number of traffic police to deal with the situation as only 730 people had been recruited to DMP (traffic) in the last six years.
Presently, the number of manpower in the traffic department is 2,726 against the sanctioned posts of 2,995.
Besides, though Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) issues licence for rickshaws, but it does not take action against illegal rickshaws. Similarly, any serious action is absent against unfit vehicles.
Shafiqur Rahman said the number of rickshaws with valid license was 79,750, but there were about 0.5 million rickshaws plying the city streets without valid licenses.
He said the traffic jam might be eased up if the illegal rickshaws were seized. "But it needs political decision as livelihood of many families depends on it", he added.
Officials concerned think that adequate number of footbridges and underpasses will have to be built at all level crossings and inter-sections in the city as short-term measures.
As part of mid-term solution, they said flyover should build at important intersections, including Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Moghbazar, Sonargaon and Bijoy Sharani.
Footbridges would also have to be constructed at six important level-crossings of the city. Besides, an immediate plan for the construction of monorail or underground rail should be there.
According to statistics, nearly 524,000 vehicles now ply the city streets everyday against 0.3 million in 2003, creating vexing tailbacks.
The vehicles include nearly 1,47,000 private cars, 59,000 microbuses and jeeps, 29,000 lorries, 8,300 passenger buses, 8,320 minibuses, 6,272 taxicabs, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and auto-tempos 19,591. Besides, the number of motorbikes is 217,800.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials said 125 motor vehicles were getting registered on an average everyday. Based on this figure, the officials said, 3,750 vehicles were hitting the city streets on average every month.
They said if this trend of registering new vehicles continues for next two years, the already overcrowded city streets would simply be exhausted turning the capital into a stalled city.
Dhaka City with 250-300 kilometres of roads has space for around 0.15 million vehicles. "So, the number of vehicles is around four times the capacity of the streets in the capital," said an official.
Talking to the news agency, DMP Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Shafiqur Rahman said Dhaka city had only eight per cent of roads against the ideal situation of 25 per cent.
Out of these 8 per cent roads, he said, 30 per cent were occupied with unauthorised car parking.
"Since it is difficult to construct new roads at this point of time, there is no alternative to building underground roads or elevated highways to tackle the traffic congestion.
DMP sources said there was no adequate number of traffic police to deal with the situation as only 730 people had been recruited to DMP (traffic) in the last six years.
Presently, the number of manpower in the traffic department is 2,726 against the sanctioned posts of 2,995.
Besides, though Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) issues licence for rickshaws, but it does not take action against illegal rickshaws. Similarly, any serious action is absent against unfit vehicles.
Shafiqur Rahman said the number of rickshaws with valid license was 79,750, but there were about 0.5 million rickshaws plying the city streets without valid licenses.
He said the traffic jam might be eased up if the illegal rickshaws were seized. "But it needs political decision as livelihood of many families depends on it", he added.
Officials concerned think that adequate number of footbridges and underpasses will have to be built at all level crossings and inter-sections in the city as short-term measures.
As part of mid-term solution, they said flyover should build at important intersections, including Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Moghbazar, Sonargaon and Bijoy Sharani.
Footbridges would also have to be constructed at six important level-crossings of the city. Besides, an immediate plan for the construction of monorail or underground rail should be there.