A severe traffic jam stretching approximately 25 kilometers has developed on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway, causing major delays for thousands of Eid holiday travelers heading home.
The congestion began early Thursday morning and extended from the Asherpur Bypass in Tangail to the Jamuna Bridge.
According to highway police sources, the surge in homebound travelers for Eid has led to a significantly higher volume of vehicles than usual.
The traffic pressure started building up after Wednesday evening and worsened overnight, compounded by multiple vehicle breakdowns at various points on the highway.
By 9:00 AM on Thursday, traffic had slowed to a crawl, with long lines of vehicles barely inching forward. Many travelers have been stuck in the jam for hours, with some reporting moving only 6 to 7 kilometers in over two hours.
To ease the congestion, authorities temporarily opened both lanes of the Jamuna Bridge in the northbound direction early in the morning, allowing vehicles to pass from Dhaka toward northern districts more quickly.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority reported that 51,849 vehicles crossed the Jamuna Bridge between midnight Tuesday and midnight Wednesday—a nearly threefold increase from the usual daily traffic. The toll collection during this 24-hour period reached BDT 359.83 million.
Out of the total vehicles, 30,845 were headed northbound, generating BDT 184.97 million in tolls, while 21,004 returned from the north toward Dhaka, generating another BDT 174.85 million. Under normal conditions, an average of 16,000 to 18,000 vehicles use the bridge daily.
Despite efforts to manage the traffic, authorities continue to advise travelers to plan their journeys carefully and expect delays, especially during peak holiday movement.
