Traffic congestion is an indelible image of Dhaka’s agonies. Dhaka is recognized as one of the worst liveable cities in the world due to various reasons and traffic congestion is one among those. Being stuck for hours in abandoned tailbacks is a common phenomenon for the city dwellers. Often the situation gets far worse due to frequent VIP (President, Prime Minister, key diplomats and foreign visitors and so on) movement, political programmes, public gathering and so on. Once a gridlock is created at some points in the city, its impact falls on surrounding areas. Then the situation needs several hours to come back to normalcy.
The Greater Dhaka area is home to over 18 million people as of 2016. The density of Dhaka is 23,234 people for every square kilometre. Road networks constitute about eight percent of the city, and hawkers occupy large portions of this. Here, faulty traffic signalling systems, inadequate manpower, narrow road spaces and overtaking tendency of drivers create pro-longed traffic congestions. Due to traffic jam a substantial portion of working hours have to be left on streets which indirectly put adverse impact on the economy. Also it causes serious air pollution and noise pollution and thus worsens the overall environmental condition. Experts are of the opinion that Dhaka is the worst city in terms of density and ranked 16 in traffic congestion laden with excessive private vehicles and violation of traffic rules, haphazard parking, faulty road construction along with multi-modal traffic in a single route, VIP movement, erroneous crossing, VIP movement, population influx, unplanned fuel stations, unplanned foot over-bridges and flyovers and so on. Reports published in various dailies tell us that more than 200 new cars are now getting registration every day including ride sharing vehicles. Ridesharing vehicles, especially Uber users, on roads during pick hours are contributing to worsening the traffic to some extent.
Authorities in Bangladesh have been struggling to bring traffic back under control on the streets of Dhaka, one of the world's most densely populated cities. Violation of traffic rules, reckless driving and racing on roads by drivers have become the order of the day in the capital, causing vexing traffic congestion and frequent road crashes.
The situation may worsen in the coming years.
The vast population plus slow traffic speed could
result in more lost working hours unless the government
plans on contingency measures.
The losses arising from traffic jam can be
considered as more damaging to the
city than anything else
Long tailbacks make commuting in the city a nightmare. The chaotic traffic situation has somewhat become Dhaka's "identity" as one cannot talk about the city without mentioning the paralysing traffic congestion. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) observed special programs to bring back discipline on the streets last year after the students' road safety movement. However, there has been no improvement.
In this circumstance we urge the private and government oriented organization such as school, collage, private university, offices to take pragmatic steps to develop organization based and hassle- free and efficient public transport service and take immediate actions to reduce the use of private and small vehicles. It is envisaged that railways can be reinvigorated effectively for lessening traffic jam. In this regard, the existing train service can play a vital role in controlling traffic congestions on the streets by extending one or two more lines and introducing additional commuter trains from Tongi to Narayangaj and vice versa.
The reason of the jam is not only on account of the traffic but also the population growth and the increasing immigrant rate from other cities. Blame games will not reduce the number of deaths on our roads. Concerted effort will make our roads safer for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
The situation may worsen in the coming years. The vast population plus slow traffic speed could result in more lost working hours unless the government plans on contingency measures. The losses arising from traffic jam can be considered as more damaging to the city than anything else. It is high time that the authorities concerned identify the solution of Dhaka’s terrible traffic jam. In order to reduce traffic jam, government can consider construction of roads through east-west connection of Dhaka city, construction of circular embankment-cum-road along the periphery of Dhaka city, grade separated road network system, bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and Metro-Rail system. By reducing traffic jam, this city can play a very important role by ensuring healthy environment free from noise and pollution.
Shaikhul Islam Raton is Staff Correspondent, Bangladesh Post