Unbearable traffic congestion in rapidly urbanising Dhaka

Shirin Sharmin :
Traffic jam in Dhaka city is surely a pain in the neck, making it difficult for both locals and visitors to get about. Although traffic congestion is a common phenomenon in all over the world’s megacities at certain times of the day, what we experience in Dhaka is complete pandemonium. Traffic jam has become regular, and it seems like every day it is getting worse, increasing everyone’s aggravations, disappointments, and even health issues. Especially during Ramadan’s office hours, it has gotten terrible. Everyone is pleading for a solution, but nobody can predict a time frame.
Last year the government of Bangladesh changed office hours from 8 am to 3 pm to conserve energy and relieve inhabitants from the terrible traffic bottleneck. Although, the initiative was beneficial to conserve energy, unfortunately, could not reduce traffic jams. According to the Global Traffic Index 2022, Bangladesh is ranked ninth out of 246 countries in the world’s traffic index. The traffic congestion in Dhaka city is aggravated by a variety of reasons, including poor traffic management system, increased number of vehicles, reduction in road capacity, disobedience of traffic regulations, frequent construction works without proper planning, illegal parking, corruption in issuing a driving license, etc.
Although the total population of Dhaka city is more than two crores, less than 3 per cent of the city’s registered vehicles are buses or minibuses, demonstrating the subpar public transportation system. Due to this, the number of unlawful and dangerous small vehicles, including three-wheelers and simple bikes, has increased. Motorbikes and private cars make up around 70 per cent of registered vehicles, which are considered to be key contributors to traffic jams and accidents. In the opinion of transport expert Prof Dr Shamsul Hoque, small vehicles like cars and motorbikesare key contributors to traffic congestion in Dhaka city. Buses and minibuses will have more space on the highways if the number of these vehicles can be reduced, increasing the number of trips.
Traffic congestion is one of the major barriers to the economic development of a country, resulting in severe social impacts. Increasing road traffic costs affect not only the commuters but also impact the entire economy. Bangladesh loses more than 19 million working hours every day as a result of this traffic jam. The cost of traffic congestion accounts for between 6 per cent and 9 per cent of Bangladesh’s GDP, according to a study done by the accident research Institute (ARI) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, BUET.
However, in addition to the economic loss that the nation’s citizens are going through, their mental and physical health is also taking a hit. Traffic congestion has a number of negative health effects, and research has shown that it substantially raises the risk of heart-related disorders like high blood pressure and heart attacks. Also, the harmful impacts of traffic noise on the nervous system might increase levels of anxiety and irritability. People who are exposed to heavy traffic have a two fold increased chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, compared to residents of places with less traffic, those who live in locations with a larger vehicular burden and experience the most traffic stress also have worse health and more depressive symptoms. These results imply that traffic stress may be a significant factor affecting urban people’ well-being.
Congestion in traffic has a detrimental effect on the environment’s ecology. The most significant source of a wide variety of air pollutants in cities has been determined to be motor vehicles. Slow-moving traffic extends the time that vehicles spend idle, creeping, and in repeated stop-go situations, which inescapably leads to an increase in emissions. Fuel combustion produces a variety of hazardous byproducts, many of which are bad for the areasof vegetation, animals, and people’s health. The principal pollutants from vehicles that have detrimental effects on the environment include Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), unburned hydrocarbons (HCs), benzene, and formaldehyde.These pollutants not only pollute the environment but also create serious health hazards for city dwellers.
An immediate and effective step should be taken to get rid of long-term traffic jam problem. The simplest ways to reduce traffic congestioncan be reducing too many people trying to drive at once on any given road at a particular time. Arresting the follow of people in Dhaka city, administrative decentralization, and improving educational and healthcare facilities at the district level can be a few of the steps to be taken to reduce traffic congestion. Public transit can be one of the most effective ways to reduce traffic congestion in urban areas. Using more public transport, restricting routes for slow-moving vehicles like rickshaws, financial penaltiesfor traffic law breakers, road widening, and establishment of a U-loop system can also be taken to combat traffic jams.
Traffic congestion is one of the most challenging and complicated issues in city management in the present decade. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, serves as the country’s economic and commercial center both internally and outside. The congestion cost for a developing country like Bangladesh is very much higher compared to any other countryin the world. Bangladesh would have experienced a significant boost the per-capita GDP would rise if the traffic congestion issue in Dhaka city can be resolved.So, a well-thought-out long-term plan is needed to address the issue of traffic congestion in Dhaka and other areas of Bangladesh.

(The writer is a researcher and serving as Assistant Professor at Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management).