Level crossings, edn institutions lead to Uttara traffic jam

A large number of educational institutions and half a dozen railway level crossings contribute to everyday gridlock on the busy airport road at Uttara, traffic department says.
Both commuters and Uttara dwellers suffer badly for movement of thousands of people in the area, though the model town once considered a spacious and peaceful neighbourhood.
Masudur Rahman Bhuiyan, deputy commissioner of traffic police (north), said 66 educational institutions, either public or private, especially colleges and English medium schools, and an unspecified number of hospitals and clinics are housed in Uttara.
A top English medium school, right on the airport road, contributes notably to traffic congestion, since most students and parents move on private cars, said Bhuiyan.
At six level crossings in Uttara, vehicles get halted around 98 times in twenty-four hours; a five-minute halt at one crossing creates a three-kilometre tailback, disrupting heavily the traffic movement on the road, he added.
Commuters, to and from Uttara and Gulshan, suffered a horrendous traffic gridlock yesterday during school and office hours.
“It took me half an hour just to get out of Uttara Sector-5 to drop my daughter at her school in Sector-10,” said Shamsuzzaman Khan, a resident of the area.
Long tailback was on the airport road from Sector-4 to Banani intersection around 8:30am yesterday.
Afsana Khanom, another sufferer, said “While a 30-minute drive, it took me nearly one and a half hours to get back to Gulshan from my daughter’s school in Uttara Sector-4.”
According to Bhuiyan, two intersections at Jasim Uddin Road and near House Building Finance Corporation create severe traffic jam.
He added the long-route vehicles from Ashulia and Tongi also occupy the road. “Once built, the Kuril interchange will significantly improve the situation.”
Similar tailback was on the Gulshan Avenue seen between Gulshan roundabouts-2 and 1 in the early afternoon.
Bhuiyan said innumerable vehicles roll to Gulshan streets at a time, and inadequate road coverage result in traffic deadlock.

Courtesy of The Daily Star