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The Bangladesh Bridge Authority is planning to build a two-storey road from Narayanganj’s Panchabati to Munshiganj’s Muktarpur to fulfill the need for a 4-lane highway – which is unfeasible in this particular region due to unavailability of land for the widening process.
Speaking with The Business Post, Deputy Project Director Md Ohiduzzaman said land acquisition on both sides of this busy road is simply not viable as hundreds of multi-storey factories have already been built there.
Of the 10.75km of highway stretching from Panchabati to Muktarpur, 6.26km will have both elevated and at-grate roads, while the rest will have an at-grate 4-lane road set to be built by widening the existing lanes, BBA sources said.
A challenging endeavor
Md Hadiuzzaman, a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s civil engineering department and the project’s master planner, said, “Though the road is a regional highway, it has many urban characteristics.
“This road has large multistoried buildings on both sides, and the land price of adjacent areas is high too. Designing the road was challenging as the traffic assessment required a 4-lane highway instead of the existing 2-lane one, but acquisition of land was impractical.”
He continued, “If we decide to acquire the necessary amount of land for widening this existing road, we would have to demolish the factories located on both sides. We would have to pay a large amount of money as compensation for this move.
“After calculations, I found that land acquisition and compensation would have eaten up 70 per cent of the total project costs. This is not viable at all. So, we have decided to build a two-storey highway with parking and drainage facilities as a complete and integrated traffic plan.
Physical work begins in 2022
Deputy Project Director Md Ohiduzzaman told The Business Post the government will acquire 40.4 acres of land to implement this project and physical work will begin in March next year.
“Thirteen foreign firms and a domestic construction company have submitted tenders to get contact for this work. The BBA will pick one of them after carrying out a detailed analysis of their profiles.”
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project on December 8, 2020, and it was revised on February 24, 2021. Officials concerned said the road will be open for public use in June 2025. The BBA has projected the cost at Tk 2,242 crore.
Benefits of an expressway, on a highway
This region – located in the outskirts of capital city Dhaka – has witnessed rapid industrialisation in the past decade, causing the number of vehicles to consistently go up on the Panchabati-Muktarpur highway, putting more and more pressure on this road.
A feasibility study projected that the annual average daily traffic on this road currently stands at 17,910, which will be 23,920 in 2023 and 63,580 in 2043.
Alongside local commuters, vehicles heading towards Sylhet and Chattogram over the Padma Bridge will be able to use this highway to avoid Dhaka roads following implementation of this project in the coming days.
The BBA has kept an access ramp in the Kashipur area as part of their plans for the proposed highway upgrade, so that local vehicles can get on the elevated lanes to deliver goods such as potatoes and other vegetables to Dhaka.
The project’s master planner Hadiuzzaman said the road is not an expressway, but the user of this highway will get the same benefits because of its elevated structure. “The road has been designed to allow vehicles a top speed of 80km/h.”
Project officials added that following construction, this road will cut down the usual travel time by 63 per cent.
Emergency lane on elevated part
BBA has finalised the plan to build a 6.26 km stretch of road featuring both elevated and at-grate lanes in the area. The elevated part will have two lanes, while the at-grate part will fulfill the need for another two lanes.
As per the design, the elevated part will feature a 3.6-metre lane for the main traffic on each side of a 2.5-metre wide emergency lane. Below the elevated road, the at-grate road will be the same 3.6 meter wide two main lanes with 1.5 meter footpath and 1.5 meter service lane for local vehicles.
There will be no traditional dividers on the elevated part of this road to allow emergency rescue of any broken down vehicles and maintain an uninterrupted flow of traffic.
Hadiuzzaman said the emergency lane is a new concept introduced for the first time in this country.
“This lane on the elevated part of the road will be used only by emergency services. Rumble strips will serve as a hurdle for any other vehicles trying to move into this lane,” he added.
Drainage, parking, footpath facilities
For the first time in a regional highway, the BBA will build a drainage network on both sides of the road so that the highway cannot get damaged by waterlogging caused by rain or nearby industries.
Deputy Project Director Md Ohiduzzaman said local vehicles frequently park on highways which block traffic movement, and cause accidents and fatalities too. “We have incorporated a dedicated parking facility in the plan to mitigate this issue,” he said.
A 1.5 meter wide footpath also will be installed for pedestrians.
Present condition of this road
The busy road from Muktarpur to Panchabati is 6-7 meter wide and most of the lanes are currently in a rundown state. Traffic jams are a regular hindrance faced by the road’s commuters.
Local sources said vehicles from at least five cement factories, cold storages, and other factories inside the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) industrial area use this road, adding that traffic jams around the clock eat up at least three hours of commuters trying to cross the 10km road.
