How to use elevated expressway

All sorts of motorised vehicles excluding two and three-wheelers will be able to use the Dhaka Elevated Expressway from Sunday morning and it will take only twelve minutes for them to ply between Kawla and Farmgate.

The length of the section is 11.5 kilometers from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Farmgate via Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali and Tejgaon. This section has 15 ramps for entry and exit of vehicles. The points are airport, Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali, Bijoy Sarani and Farmgate. Exit points Mohakhali and Banani will be opened later. 

According to Bridge Division, for southbound vehicles originating from Uttara, entry points to the elevated expressway include Kawla, Pragati Sarani, and Army Golf Club on Airport Road, with exit options at Banani Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Mohakhali Bus Terminal in front, and Indira Road near Farmgate.

Conversely, for northbound vehicles coming from the south, access to the expressway involves crossing both the north and south lanes of Bijoy Sarani overpass and Banani Railway Station. Exit points can be found in front of Mohakhali Bus Terminal, Banani Kamal Ataturk Avenue near Airport Road, Kuril Bishwa Road, and Airport 3rd Terminal area.

Vehicles using the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will have to pay toll at toll booths, which will be collected in four categories.

Private cars, microbuses (less than 16 seats) and mini-trucks (less than 3 tonnes) will have to pay Tk 80, medium-sized trucks (up to 6 wheels) and large trucks with more than 6 wheels will pay Tk 320 and Tk 400 respectively.

Meanwhile, all buses and minibuses with 16 or more seats will have to pay Tk 160 to ply the Kawla-Farmgate section of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway.

The authorities have set the speed limit at 60 kmph but at the entry and exit points, the highest speed is set to 40 kmph.

The expressway is being implemented in three phases under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative. The first phase is from Kawla near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Banani Railway Station, the second phase from Banani Railway Station to Moghbazar railway crossing and the third phase from Moghbazar rail crossing to Kutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

Once totally completed, the expressway will serve as an alternative north-south route. It will connect Hemayetpur-Kadamtali-Nimtoli-Sirajdikhan-Madanganj-Dhaka-Chattogram Highway-Madanpur directly.

On the other hand, vehicles from the south-western region and the eastern region of the country will be able to enter the north-western region directly without entering Dhaka thanks to the Elevated Expressway – reducing travel time and traffic congestion in the capital city.

The construction process of the project started on January 19, 2011. The tenure of this project is estimated from July 2011 to June 2024. The cost of the project is estimated to be about Tk 8,940 crore, of which the government is providing Tk 2,413 crore.

Besides, the government is spending Tk 4917.57 crore on land acquisition, resettlement and relocation of utility service lines totaling the project cost at Tk 13,857.57 crore.