Country’s first expressway opens Thursday

[xyxmt]

Most people say, "3/4th of the glass is full, yet, there are people who would say, "1/4th of the glass is empty".

Some people see how full the glass is and some people finger point how empty it is. There are many different human minds.

yet some people will claim glass is full with most expensive Vodka not the tap water

 

[Chhatrapati]

Nice... Hopefully, it will decongest the roads in BD.

 

[American Pakistani]

Seriously we hear so much good things about bangaldeshi economy.
But is this your first expressway?
And that too I mean we have these type in 80s. If you see pakistan's motorways and now throughout country. You would die of awe.
Atleast make international standards project with the money bangaldesh makes.
We near no remarkable projects infrastructure from Bangaldesh. Surely now they can do huge infrastructure spending.


Pakistan has already done that with 6 lane motorways and 4 Lane expressways in remort part. With international standard motorways not bangaldeshi standards.
But your economy is so good. We in Pakistan give your examples when talking about economy. Why don't you I mean go beyond that.

To be fair Bangladesh did smart. They focused on economy first instead of political show off projects which could become hard to maintain.

Look at orange train, green bus and other such show off projects.

 

[Bilal9]

To be fair Bangladesh did smart. They focused on economy first instead of political show off projects which could become hard to maintain.

Look at orange train, green bus and other such show off projects.

These kind of infra projects (other than being useful in moderation) are popular with Asian politicians because they offer avenues of chori (theft) in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In Bangladesh' case we don't mind the chori so much because the infra projects (ports, SEZ's and road/rail/riverine infra) are focused to one goal - increasing exports and providing living-wage jobs for the lower middle class people.

If they can make a few takas in halal income for their families, work-a-day people complain a lot less. If they can get their fair (in their minds) share, the proletariat care a lot less how much is being stolen. Except may be other opposition politicians because they did not get their share of the loot.

Bangladeshi politicians - most of all Hasina, has got this message and is efficiently completing these infra projects, some ministers in her cabinet are excellent technocrats and project managers in this regard.

Chori is inevitable in South Asian (or even Asian) context, cannot stop it. Society has to become educated and evolved before that becomes unacceptable. Not happening in another twenty years.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Country’s first expressway opens Thursday
Shohel Mamun

• Published at 12:21 am March 11th, 2020

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  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
  
  
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  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
  
  
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  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
  
  
• 
  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
  
  
• 
  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
  
  
• 
  The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

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The four-lane highway, designed for fast traffic, will reduce Dhaka-Faridpur travel time by several hours

Bangladesh’s first ever expressway, from Dhaka to Faridpur's Bhanga upazila, will open for public use on Thursday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the high-speed superhighway via videoconference from her office, according to Roads and Highways Department (RHD) Engineer Khandaker Golam Mostafa.

Mostafa, also the project manager, told Dhaka Tribune that officials concerned will join the videoconference from the city’s Dholaipar area — from where the 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway begins.

He said commuters will be able to take full advantage of the expressway after the now under-construction Padma Bridge is completed. According to the Bridges Division, the 6.15km multipurpose bridge will likely be opened to traffic in June 2021.

The expressway will reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between Dhaka and the southern districts.

It is also part of the Asian Highway 1 (AH1), connecting Dhaka and Kolkata through the Benapole border, which will make international journeys more comfortable.

The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts | Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Now, commuters usually spend seven to eight hours to reach Faridpur from Dhaka as their usual route is only a two-lane road, which almost always suffers from severe gridlock.

Moreover, a limited number of ferries and their slow movement contribute in making the journeys needlessly longer. All of these will change once the expressway opens to traffic.

Tk11,000cr project

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) had approved the expressway project on May 3, 2016.

RHD and Special Work Organization of Bangladesh Army, under the supervision of the Road Transport and Highways Division, are implementing the project at a cost of Tk11,003.90 crore.

Initially, the estimated project cost was Tk6,252 crore and was scheduled to be completed by December 2018. It was later revised to Tk6,892 crore, but the construction was still only half done with the allocated funds already spent.

The government then took a new initiative to finish the incomplete work of the expressway’s Dhaka-Mawa part with an additional Tk4,111.86 crore, aiming to complete it by June 2020.

The expressway was implemented in two parts — 34.7km from Jatrabari to Mawa and 20km from Pachchar to Bhanga, with each kilometre costing over Tk200 crore.

About the expressway

An expressway is an urban motorway or highway designed for fast traffic, with controlled access.

On the four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway, drivers will get four entry and exit points between Dhaka and Mawa, and three between Pachchar and Bhanga.

Slow moving vehicles will have to use two service lanes on either side of the expressway.

The 54.7km four-lane Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity between the capital and the southern districts | Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneThe expressway includes a five-metre-wide central reservation, two service roads, three large bridges over Dhaleshwari and Arial Kha rivers, and 28 culverts and bridges of different lengths, officials told Dhaka Tribune.

Six flyovers and four railroad overpasses have also been constructed under the project to ensure uninterrupted vehicular movement on the highway.

Additionally, there will be designated space for elevated rail services.

During a recent visit, this correspondent found that a railway overpass in Jurain area of the expressway was ready for opening, with vehicles already using it.

The expressway starts from the Dholaipar intersection, where an artery of the Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover (Gulistan-Jatrabari) descends, and goes towards Mawa through the Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge (locally known as Postogola Bridge) over Buriganga River.

The bridge may briefly hamper a smooth journey as it is much narrower than the expressway. The Babubazar Bridge over the Buriganga also hinders easy passage in a similar way.

Project manager Mostafa said the government will also build two bridges over Buriganga River to improve conditions of traffic going towards the expressway.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/image-gallery/2020/03/11/country-s-first-expressway-opens-thursday

Why there are so many waves in the bridge?

 

[Arulmozhi Varman]

One van going in the middle of the lane. The same happens in India where no lane respect is given. Hope we give important to road safety hygiene.

 

[Bilal9]

Why there are so many waves in the bridge?

There are river and canals on the way, you have to ensure that marine craft can pass under the bridge. Can't block these waterways. The entire country (especially Southern part) is maybe 20-25 feet above sea level.

Netherlands situation but not as bad.

One van going in the middle of the lane. The same happens in India where no lane respect is given. Hope we give important to road safety hygiene.

Don't worry - the police is not out in full force yet. But they will be.

 

[Arulmozhi Varman]

There are river and canals on the way, you have to ensure that marine craft can pass under the bridge. Can't block these waterways. The entire country (especially Southern part) is maybe 20-25 feet above sea level.

Netherlands situation but not as bad.



Don't worry - the police is not out in full force yet. But they will be.

Nah. Tough to enforce. India is having Highway and expressway for 20 years. Still poor but it's slowly improving.

 

[Bilal9]

As seen, some portions of the expressway is open, and some are being completed, including the Bhanga interchange. Sabr is a great virtue.

Those criticizing the speed of construction, this is an image of the same interchange last year.

 

[bluesky]

yet some people will claim glass is full with most expensive Vodka not the tap water

Our GDP is just over $320 billion and we are not claiming it is $3 trillion. Any complaint?

Why there are so many waves in the bridge?

Waves in a road depend upon the terrain. If a terrain has hilly areas you can see a wavy road. However, in this expressway, there are not supposed to be hills. However, there are many rivers that have to be crossed. Bridges are at a higher elevation than the road. So, the effect is a wavy road.

 

[Pakistansdefender]

To be fair Bangladesh did smart. They focused on economy first instead of political show off projects which could become hard to maintain.

Look at orange train, green bus and other such show off projects.

Well but why not now? You are right one should first focus on economy after that projects that are for cosmetics.
They have decent enough economy to support infrastructure now.
And a huge huge population who needs these infrastructure projects.

 

[TopCat]

Nah. Tough to enforce. India is having Highway and expressway for 20 years. Still poor but it's slowly improving.

Actually BD ran a pilot project long time ago by construction a service road for slow moving vehicle in one of the regional road in Rajshahi. Surprisingly, it was found that people are actually avoiding the main road and instead using that service road for slow moving vehicle without any enforcement. That lead to the decision of constructing service road for every highways from now on to allow local people to have a road exclusively for local use by the high speed road.

 

[bluesky]

One van going in the middle of the lane. The same happens in India where no lane respect is given. Hope we give important to road safety hygiene.

Where do you find rickshaw van when it is a tolled expressway? It is not yet officially opened but people have been allowed to ply over it to see the construction. For the rickshaw van and local bus, there are parallel roads that you can see in some of the pictures. Please watch carefully.

 

[bluesky]

Actually BD ran a pilot project long time ago by construction a service road for slow moving vehicle in one of the regional road in Rajshahi. Surprisingly, it was found that people are actually avoiding the main road and instead using that service road for slow moving vehicle without any enforcement. That lead to the decision of constructing service road for every highways from now on to allow local people to have a road exclusively for local use by the high speed road.

Actually, I have used one such a road somewhere in Natore. There is (are) separate narrower road for rickshaw, van, and bullock carts. Only the fast-moving vehicles were using the wide road.

 

[TopCat]

Actually, I have used one such a road somewhere in Natore. There is (are) separate narrower road for rickshaw, van, and bullock carts. Only the fast-moving vehicles were using the wide road.

Yes, that was the pilot project funded by world bank.