Bangladesh is set to introduce two ‘smart highways’ by December 2024

City Desk :
Bangladesh is to witness opening of its first smart highway on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway in December 2023 while the second one is expected to be commissioned in December next year, connecting Joydebpur with Rangpur, primarily aiming to ensure road safety, officials said here on Sunday.

Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials said both the highways were being built introducing the ‘Intelligent Transport System (ITS) which incorporates vehicle detection system, surveillance camera, automated number plate recognition camera, speed detection mechanism and variable messaging sign, reports BSS.

RHD’s superintending engineer M. Tanvir Siddique said the 38-kilometre Dhaka-Mawa Expressway would be the first smart highway where the ITS would be fully installed in December this year as a pilot project.

Siddique, the project director of the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway, said the project is being implemented with South Korea’s KOICA assistance as part of a Taka 126 crore plan.

According to the RHD officials, works were underway to introduce the technology on the 250-kilometer Joydebpur-Rangpur highway in December 2024 with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance involving US$15 million.