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Introduction:

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is one of the most populated and polluted cities in the
world. It is now facing serious traffic problem along with drainage, housing, water, sewerage,
gas and electricity. The traffic congestion cost is US$3 billion a year and the City losses over 8
million work hours daily.
Traffic jam is increasing in Dhaka city day by day. It has crippled life in Dhaka during the recent
times. Especially in the pick hours, traffic jam becomes intolerable. With the growth of
population in Dhaka city, all kinds of vehicles have increased tremendously. This is the main
cause of traffic jam here. Narrow and bumpy roads, roads clogged up with water, inexpert
drivers, violation of traffic rules, insufficient number of traffic police, unlimited number of
rickshaws etc are also responsible for traffic jam. Getting stuck into a traffic jam, people
especially the students and the service holders feel much helpless and frustrated. They cannot
attend their respective fields in time. The patients carried in the ambulances to the hospitals and
clinics are the worst sufferers of this. Above all, traffic jam causes harm to the trade and
commercial and industrial production. Experts suggest some steps to control traffic jam. These
include widening roads, controlling the growth of non-mechanized vehicles, construction of fly
over. Moreover, public awareness greatly works in decreasing traffic jam by following the traffic
rules.
One of the most challenging/complicated issues in the present decade for Bangladesh is the
traffic problem of its capital city, which is deteriorating day by day with the increase in
population and vehicles. At present, Dhaka has a population over 14 million which is expected to
be 24 million by 2021 (7% increase per year). It is one of the most densely populated and
polluted cities in the world.
This historic City always attracts people from other parts of the country as there are benefits to
live in Dhaka for its renowned educational institutions, better business and employment
opportunities. Apart from these advantages, it has serious problems with traffic, drainage,
housing, water supply and sewerage, gas and electricity. Traffic Jam at Dhaka on rickshaw free
road (left) and illegal parking - occupying almost 50% of the road and hawkers activities on
footpath (right)
The City is now experiencing severe traffic problem which records high in all considerations.
The rapid population growth together with limited space available for new roads and other
transport infrastructures has made the congestion problem unbearable to the city dwellers. It
sounds terrible that the congestion cost is over Tk.19 thousand cores (approx. US$3.00 billion) a
year in Dhaka and the City loses 8.16 millions work hours daily. The impact on the environment
from vehicle emission due to traffic congestion can easily be perceptible which is yet to be
determined.

Causes of Traffic Jam:


Insufficient number of traffic police and traffic signals, flaws in traffic markings, violation of
traffic rules and regulations can also be cited as some of the main reasons for traffic jam in this
city. Following points are discussed here under traffic mismanagement system:

Inadequacy of traffic police: Traffic police in Dhaka is in adequate in numbers


compared to other megacities in Bangladesh. The entire cross roads need at least four
traffic police at a time where a sin Dhaka it is seen that the number of traffic police is
always short and due to the lacking of proper instruction the vehicles are getting
trapped in jam.
Improper Implementation of Traffic Rules: People usually do not want to follow the
traffic rules, as there is no proper implementation of these rules. Even though traffic
police is usually present at every nodes or intersections, they do not do their duties
properly. Traffic rules are also very flexible. One can easily avoid the fine by giving
bribe to the police.
Unplanned Road design: Roads are not designed and constructed through proper
planning and engineering survey. Many roads are wide enough in respect of its use but
cannot use it properly due to proper planning and lack of coordination of engineering
survey.
Higher Purchasing Power of The Public: Due to the higher purchasing power the
popularity of private transportation is increasing and but existing roads and highway
are not supportive or changing according to the increasing number of vehicle. As a
result traffic jam is increasing at an alarming rate.

Traffic Rule Violation: Only 13% of people follow traffic rules strictly. On the other
hand, 47% people moderately follow traffic rules and 40% of people never follow
traffic rules. So, this is very apparent that traffic rules violation is one of the main
reasons that is responsible for traffic jam in Dhaka City.

Rickshaw: Some people think rickshaw is the main cause of traffic jam. Their structure
and moving capability is also responsible for traffic jam.
Lack or Driving Training/ Sense: lack of proper training to the drivers and lack of
driving sense are also causing traffic jam.

Over Population: It is very apparent that due to heavy population in Dhaka City, traffic
loads also huge. This huge population needs to transport from one place to another. As a
result enormous traffic load is very
Encroachment of roads and sidewalks: Street vendors, Hawkers and street front shop
owners occupy above 60%ofthe163 km footpaths of Dhaka City. The sidewalks a real
so filled up by construction materials, garbage or even temporary houses of homeless
people or beggars. Very often pedestrians are forced to walk on the main roads instead
of using the sidewalks because of these reasons.
Improper and inadequate Public Transport System: One of the main problems of
Dhaka City is its very limited Public Transport System. Bangladesh Road Transport
Corporation [BRTC] is no more subsidized a sit became privatein1993.Now, 90% of
this corporation is in private sector and10% in government sector.
They are doing profits, but there is no data on the amount of profit. There are
now near about 3500 private buses (including BRTC bus) in Dhaka. But we
need more than 6000 buses. BRTC wants to increase its no of buses, but
neither the government nor the private companies are interested and come to
invest in this sector. Required more public transport against reduce private
transport to bring balance in transport system.

The presence of Road and Rail Line on the same ground level: The
existing intercity rail line passes through the important Central Business
Districts and a number of important and busy roads of Dhaka City. When a
train passes, lots of vehicles have to wait near the rail crossing, which causes
serious traffic jam at the interval of every 15 minutes as an average. Khilgaon
Flyover, Mohakhali Flyover, Banani Overpass and Kuril Interchange rare
constructed for handling these sorts of traffic congestion, yet this traffic
congestion shifted to surrounding area. Integrated transport plan are required
to solve these problems.

Political reasons: Every day at least one or two street processions or protests
occur in Dhaka because of the all-time political instability of Bangladesh.
These processions slow down the traffic flow of the important streets during
the peak hour.

Impact of Traffic Jam on Dhaka City:


The impact of traffic jam on Dhaka City can be viewed in three ways. The ways are
Impact on Economy, Impact on health, Impact on environment
Impact on Economy: Traffic jam has great economic impact on Dhaka City. Due to
traffic jam we are losing money in those ways:
o Vehicle Operating Cost: Every car has a running cost. Vehicle operating cost is
directly proportionate to traffic jam. Like, if there is traffic jam, then the vehicle
operator has to push the break and accelerator frequently. So, the life time of those
will be less. Fuel consumption will continue if you are even in the jam and your
car is on. So, Traffic jam actually increases VOC.
o Extra Transportation Cost: Transportation cost of people of Dhaka is on an
average 75.93 BDT. So, if their staying time in the traffic is less then definitely
the cost will be lower. This is called VOT, value of travel time savings.
o Extra Fuel Consumption: Due to traffic jam per annum extra fuel consumption
cost is 11,228 crore BDT [24] which is enormous amount of money for a least
developed country like Bangladesh. Bangladesh government is buying this extra
amount of fuel with hard cash. This is considered a national loss.
o Miscellaneous cost: For serious patients, it is life and death situation in a traffic
jam. It may happen that he is the only earning member of that family and due to
traffic jam, he might be no more. And at that time the loss of the family can never
be measured in money.
o Losing valuable time: Staying in traffic jam we are losing our valuable time
every day.

Impact on Health: 73% of people in Dhaka City are suffering some kind of physical or
mental discomfort due to traffic jam. It is very alarming. People are suffering in many
ways due to staying in traffic jam.
o Breathing Problem: People suffer from breathing problem due to traffic jam. It
happens that people due to smoke people cannot breathe or they have to breathe
polluted gas. Frequent inhaling of polluted gas causes asthma.
o Headache: Continuous horn creates headache. And if same thing keep happening
5 days a week, anyone will have a chronic headache. As a result many people of
Dhaka City has got a gift headache from traffic jam.
o Mental Stress: Due to traffic jam, people get late in their appointments. This
gives people a continuous mental stress. And taking this mental stress day by day,
people get heart diseases, mental weakness and many other symptoms of weak
hearts.
o Hearing Problem: Due to heavy horn at the time of traffic jam, people suffer
problem in hearing. Staying in the traffic for a long time makes a people unable to
hear clearly for a few minutes. If this continues, the hearing problem might be
permanent.
o Tiredness: Getting home from the office by passing through heavy traffic makes
everyone tired. And due to this tiredness, no one can concentrate well in his
family life. People get angry at smaller things.
o Eye Problem: Due to staying in traffic jam, peoples eyes come to contact of
smoke. And this smoke cause pain in the eyes. Sometimes people tear in the jam
automatically. People get burning eyes.
Except the above problems people also suffer from some other kinds of problems. Though few
but worth mentioning physical problems that people also suffer for traffic jams are given
below:
o Respiratory problem
o Puking
o Heart disease
o Fever
o Dust allergy

Impact on Environment: Traffic jam causes environment pollution in two main ways.
It causes
o Air Pollution: Traffic jam introduces air pollution through SOx, NOx, Cox
(SO2, CO, CO2,N2O, and NO2).And in the traffic jam, when vehicles stop for a
longer periods of time and their engine is on, they emit SOx, NOx much which
are lighter than air but very dangerous for our health and they even can cause
death. SPM (Suspended Particle Matter) which are normally emitted from
exhaust tail. Due to less burning some unburnt particle gets out from the exhaust
tail which causes cancer. People at CNG level suffer the most. Because the
unburnt fuel is heavier than air, so they want to go down but they cannot go
down because of repulsion of the road.
o Sound Pollution: sound pollution and its effect on the people of Dhaka city is
given below:
97% of students reported that their studying is disrupted by horns.
86% of the general population considers noise pollution a big problem;
Only 1% said it is not a problem.
The general public strongly support actions to reduce noise pollution, with the
vast majority supporting improved traffic control, banning industrial activity and
brick breaking machines in urban areas, placing limits on the decibels allowed in
different areas, and banning making for processions, advertising, and election
campaigns.

Solutions of Traffic Jam:


For getting rid of traffic congestion problem, both the government and private sector should
come forward with innovative programs and initiatives.

Strict Traffic law Implementation: Traffic jam in Dhaka City can be reduced by
implementing traffic law strictly. If all types of vehicle drivers follow the traffic rules
properly then it can surely decrease the load on the road.
Public Transportation: Many people will be willing to travel through public transports
rather than private cars if proper public transportation service can be offered. People

think that public transport, like bus, can carry many passengers at the same time which
will reduce the cost and time expense for them.
Awareness Building: To reduce traffic jam in Dhaka City, the most vital prerequisite, is
the development of public awareness. Unless and until people change their perception
and develop a mind to abide traffic rules, whatever strategy Government takes, that will
not work properly. Law-abiding consciousness, good-intention and sincere co-operation
can remarkably reduce traffic jam in Dhaka city.
Removing Rickshaw: Dhaka city has eighty-five thousand legal rickshaws whereas it
has more than six lakh rickshaws. It is learnt that more one lakh is going to join them
before the Eid. Still it becomes awfully difficult to get a rickshaw during office going and
coming time. Rickshaw pullers don't want to go to the passengers' expected places. They
just wait in particular places to move to some particulars areas causing traffic jam as well
as tremendous problems to the passengers.

Building Bus Stoppages: Rarely any public transportation will be found that stop
according to the stoppage. Bus stoppage should be well developed in the city and the law
enforcing authority should be aware of confirming the implication of law.
Increasing and developing the Traffic Police: As the city is running with inadequate
amount of traffic police than required, so it is almost must for the authority to
increase the number of traffic police. This step will create some scope for employment
also. Only recruitment is not enough, they should be trained up for the betterment of the
traffic management
Imposing Tax on car and other privet transportation: Government is already charging a
high amount of tax on imported cars and other private transports. Tax amount should be
increased in order to reduce the amount of private transportation hence traffic jam.
Subway: Subway can be a possible solution for a busy city like Dhaka which do not has
the ability to provide wider road for the vehicles. Subway can provide underground
access for the vehicles all over the city and reduce traffic jam.
Flyovers: flyovers can be a possible solution to the current traffic condition of Dhaka
city. If flyovers can be construction in the main roads then the vehicles can move on the
roads as well as on the flyovers at the same time. That will surely reduce the load on the
busy roads.
Banning Unauthorized Parking: It is very practical that the city does not have sufficient
place for allowing the vehicles freely. Unauthorized parking should be banned all over
the city.

Effective Use of Underpass and Over Bridge: There are some underpasses and over
bridges in Dhaka city which were built to provide alternate walkways for people to cross
the roads. Effective use of this can improve the current road condition by reducing
number of people walking through the busy roads.
Training of Traffic Polices: Dhaka city authority does not have sufficient and well
trained human resources. Four thousand officers work in two shifts- morning and
afternoon. Due to administrative and other involvement, only fifteen hundred officers can
be engaged in one shift to control the movement of millions of people and vehicles in
Dhaka City. This figure is quite insufficient to manage the existing traffic scenario.

Our Opinions about how to reduce Traffic Jam: Here we give some opinions to reduce
traffic jam from Dhaka:
o Have a good public transport system so people would use it
o Ban rickshaw from the main roads of Dhaka
o Good traffic system
o Good lane system
o Traffic police should do their duty properly
o Use zebra cross and foot over bridge
o Respect the law
o Stricter laws need to be enforced to maintain discipline
o The number of mobile courts and checkpoints should be increased
o The signal post should be constructed as early as possible

Conclusion & Recommendation:

Dhaka City is the capital of Bangladesh which is a least developed country. It is very
important for this City to take vital role in the economy of Bangladesh. But now due to
traffic jam, this City is causing the major loss in the economy of Bangladesh. By
reducing traffic jam, this city can play a very important role for the country and at the
same it can also bring relief and peace for the citizens by ensuring healthy environment
free from noise and pollution. To ensure a healthy generation, traffic jam must be
reduced. There are lots of solutions. Some are short term and some are long term basis.
We need to work on the basis of long term plan and at the same time take care of short
term solution to remove current discomforts or problems. It needs a balance so that to
fulfill too much short term solution we do not ruin the long term plan. Our focus should
be the solution of traffic jam, strong economy and healthy environment.
Dhaka has now become one of the busiest cities around the world in terms of traffic jam.
5 years back, it was not as horrible as it is now and also it is also true, 5 years from now
on, only God knows how the looks of the roads and streets of our beloved Dhaka city will
be like. However, if no measures are taken shortly it is for damn sure that we will face the
nightmare of traffic congestion.
Many probable solutions have been thought of, however, due to other limitations we are
unable to come up with definitive permanent solutions to this humongous problem.
Efficient transportation is the key to any progress and development of a country for
various reasons. I am not going to elaborate them since it is very well-known to all of you
there. So, the main point is that we, the people have to come together rather than waiting
on the Government to fix the problem for us.
We want to reduce traffic jam using resources that are within our limit. This is our city,
we the new generation will have to dwell in it. Instead of waiting for government or
finding their past faults, lets find some urgent solution and make it happen for the better
for us.

Bibliography:

http://www.assignmentpoint.com/arts/modern-civilization/reporton-traffic-congestion-in- dhaka-city.html

http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/08/16/60km-long-traffic-jam
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://studymode.com
http://scribd.com
http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0326.htm.
Journal of Management and Sustainability; Vol. 2, No. 2; 2012

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