Severe traffic congestion on the Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover has become a daily ordeal for commuters. The 10.6 km flyover, meant to take just 10 minutes to cross, now requires between one to one and a half hours. Mismanagement by flyover authorities and police negligence are exacerbating the situation, with buses stopping at various spots increasing the risk of accidents.
Aggrieved passengers report that slow toll collection at the toll plaza is causing long vehicle queues, stretching from Gulistan to Sayedabad. Consequently, it takes around an hour to travel from Qutubkhali to Gulistan on the flyover. Thousands endure daily suffering due to these issues. The Mayor Hanif Flyover, the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project, is operated by Orion Infrastructure Company.
Local buses frequently stop to pick up and drop passengers on the flyover, leading to chaotic traffic conditions. Long-distance buses also use the Sayedabad section as a stop from evening onwards, while local buses do the same throughout the day at Rajdhani Market, Syedabad, and Jatrabari points. Flyover workers reportedly assist in loading and unloading passengers, taking 10-20 taka from bus driver-helpers in return.
At the Gulistan Toll Plaza, buses stop in front, causing a long traffic jam as they take a U-turn after descending from the flyover. This results in significant delays for passengers attempting to exit the flyover.
Many passengers, especially those traveling to Gulistan-Motijheel, often disembark and walk from the Jayakali Mandir area to avoid the traffic jam. Additionally, the entrance of the Shanir Akhara section frequently experiences severe traffic congestion, particularly from 8 am to 10 am and from 5 pm to midnight, with jams extending 3 to 4 km in the Rayerbagh and Matuail Medical areas.
Meanwhile, since the movement of vehicles on the Padma Bridge has started, the pressure has increased at night on the Dholaipar section of the flyover. Almost every day from evening to 10 pm heavy traffic is seen at the toll plaza in this section.
The flyover was commissioned in October 2013 to ease traffic congestion in the area. However, this project is not able to play any role in solving the traffic jam.
The situation at the Dhaka Medical end of the flyover is even worse. Long traffic jams continue. Pedestrians said that the police give more importance to the cars of old Dhaka by blocking the cars of the flyover in front of Dhaka Medical. Cars on the flyover are stuck for more time. This creates a terrible traffic jam on the flyover.
Bushra Zaman, a lawyer who came to Gulistan from Jatrabari, said, “Local buses create traffic jams by going around randomly. One has to sit for hours. I think nothing is impossible. How many years of this ongoing problem? How many more sufferings will the authorities pay attention to proper management?”
She further said, “There are often accidents on this flyover. People are dying because of construction defects. If so who is responsible for this? What action has been taken against them? Nowhere in the world have I seen passengers flying in the middle of a flyover. But here the buses are running arbitrarily.”
Rashed Ahmed, a resident of Shonir Akhra, said that he uses the Mayor Hanif flyover every day to go to the office. It's like hell pain. People use flyovers to save time, and it's the other way around for us. The road is not even 20 minutes, but it takes more than 1 to 1.5 hours. It takes more than 40 minutes to fly over. There is heavy traffic on the road leading up to the flyover, at the toll booths and on the road coming down from the flyover.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on May 16 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)
