For the past 10 days, severe traffic congestion on the Cumilla stretch of the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway has been causing immense suffering to passengers and transport workers, with vehicles taking around four hours to cover just 3km.
Vehicles leaving Chattogram for Dhaka at around 8am are reaching Cumilla by noon and then getting stuck for another three to four hours. As a result, the journey between Dhaka and Chattogram, which normally takes around six hours, is now stretching to 10-12 hours.
Ongoing road repair work, damaged stretches and potholes at several points of the highway are slowing traffic, while rain has caused waterlogging in parts of the road, further worsening the situation.
In some areas, repair work has narrowed the highway, creating long queues of vehicles and reducing traffic to crawl.
Truck driver Arfan Hossain told TIMES of Bangladesh Tuesday afternoon, “I left Chattogram early in the morning. Normally, I should have crossed this stretch much earlier.
But I have been stuck in Cumilla for a long time. There is a long line of vehicles ahead, and we can barely move. The road is in poor condition, and repair work is also underway at several places. It is wasting both time and fuel.”
Bus driver Yasir Arafat said passengers were repeatedly asking when they would reach their destination. “But there is nothing we can do. The condition of the road and the traffic congestion have made it difficult even to drive,” he said.
Pickup driver Monir Hossain said many sections of the highway were in poor condition, with potholes in some places and narrowed sections caused by repair work in others. “If even one vehicle moves slowly, a long queue forms behind it. Travelling this way every day is extremely difficult,” he said.
Sanjida, a passenger on a Dhaka-bound bus from Chattogram, said children and elderly passengers were suffering in the heat inside the bus. “No one can say when the traffic jam will clear,” she said.
Another passenger, Rubaiya Begum, said, “I did not expect this much suffering. We have been sitting inside the bus for hours.”
Cumilla Roads and Highways Department Executive Engineer Khondkar Golam Mostofa said the repair work would be completed within the next three days. “However, if it rains during this period, the work may take longer,” he said.
