Long queues of vehicles at Mawa end as Padma Bridge opens

The Padma Bridge has witnessed long queues of vehicles at its Mawa end as it opened to traffic this morning.

However, the picture was different at the Jazira end of the bridge with vehicles moving from that end smoothly.

After the inauguration on Saturday, vehicles started plying along the Padma Bridge from the Mawa end around 6:00am on Saturday.

Vehicles formed long queues on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway in the Munshiganj part of the Padma Bridge from 8:30 am to 10:00 am.

A three-kilometre traffic jam was seen along the expressway from Samashpur in Srinagar to the North Thana of the Padma Bridge. 

Around 8:30 am, a truck driver named Amir Hamza said he would go to Chougachha in Jessore and was stuck in the traffic jam after reaching there from Dhaka’s Nimtal in just 20 minutes.

He said he had been stuck in the traffic jam for more than 40 minutes.

A DM Transport driver, Md Tarek said it took him 35 minutes to reach Toll Plaza from Samashpur in Srinagar, which is only three kilomtres, due to the traffic jam.

Mohammad Belayet Hossain Milon, a passenger in a private car, said he had crossed the Padma Bridge from Khulna city to Mawa in just two hours.

While crossing the bridge, he said he had looked around the whole bridge.

He said there was no suffering anywhere on the roads and highways.

Jayanta Poddar, a traffic sergeant in the Mawa Toll Plaza area of the Padma Bridge, said there was heavy cargo traffic pressure in the morning.

As the day went on, the pressure came down. However, the number of private car visitors and passenger buses was increasing, he said.

Toll collection at Mawa point was delayed due to manual system. Five booths out of six were opened on Sunday for collecting toll.

Syed Rajab Ali, executive engineer of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, said toll collection process is a bit slow as today is the first day. The process will be speedy later, he hoped.

The number of vehicles was quite high due to the visitors on the first day. Alongside this, many people did not know the amount of toll leading to a bit of delay in the toll collection, he said.

Beside this, he said, toll collection was going on smoothly.

Earlier, on Saturday, Bangladesh wrote another golden chapter in history when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the Padma Bridge turning the nation’s dream into a reality.