Elevated Expressway: Tk7.29 crore toll collected in first month
UNB: The Dhaka Elevated Expressway authorities have collected Tk7.29 crore in tolls in the first month since it was opened to the public on 3 September.
Traffic flow on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway exceeded all expectations and targets, with over 30,000 vehicles on average using it daily till 2 October.
A total of 900,627 vehicles used the expressway till 2 October since it was formally opened by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and a total of Tk7.29 crore was collected as toll during the period, said Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project Director AHMS Akhtar.”Though we expected that on average around 20,000 vehicles would use the expressway daily, now the number has increased to more than 30,000 vehicles,” Akhtar also said, which means the traffic witnessed is a significant 50% higher than expected. Replying to a question, the project director said the city’s residents from the Airport to Tejgaon area have been witnessing slightly smoother movement of vehicles on the streets. “We will get the visible benefits when the expressway is fully completed and opened to the public.”The Dhaka Elevated Expressway will run from the capital’s Kawla to Kutubkhali area of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway via Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Moghbazar-Kamalapur-Sayedabad-Jatrabari after completion of the full project, the project director added.
However, public-private transports are not using the expressway for fear of a passenger scarcity. Even the inter-district buses of Mohakhali do not use the expressway since the ramps close to the bus stations are not in operation yet. As a result, the city’s excess vehicle pressure is not decreasing.
When the project director’s attention was drawn to this, he said construction of the Mohakhali ramp as well as other ramps of the expressway would be completed soon.
Once those are completed, the present traffic flow will further increase on the expressway, reducing the pressure of transport on the streets under the expressway, he added.
Communication Expert Prof Shamsul Hoque of BUET said the problem of excessive pressure of vehicles on the streets is yet to improve visibly after opening of the expressway partially. There is no scope for improvement, he said.
Streets near the landing points of the expressway experience severe traffic congestion during peak hours. Unless there is a marked increase in public transport options available to commuters, the overall situation will not improve, he added.