The Chattogram Development Authority is going to ban the movement of motorcycles and trailers on the elevated expressway between Lalkhan Bazar and Shah Amanat International Airport from today to reduce the risk of traffic accident.
From today, other vehicles including the CNG-run auto-rickshaws will be allowed to run on the聽 expressway, officially known as the CDA Expressway.
The authorities are planning to officially open the 16.5-kilometre long expressway within this month (December) after around eight years the initiative was taken to reduce traffic congestion in the port city.
In the meantime, the project saw a third time extension in the deadline and increase in cost for once because of inclusion of new components and changes to its alignment and design.
When the expressway will be officially inaugurated, the vehicle owners will have to pay toll, said officials of the Chattogram Development Authority, the implementing agency of the expressway under the housing and public works ministry.
On the Dhaka Elevated Expressway, smaller vehicles like motorcycles and CNG-run auto-rickshaws are not allowed to run to reduce the risk of accidents.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5 this year following a student-led mass uprising, the expressway in the port city was opened to all kinds of vehicles the same month on trial basis and without toll.
鈥楾he motorcycles are running on the expressway defying the notice we installed at the entrances banning these vehicles on this road,鈥� said the project director and the CDA executive engineer Md Mahfuzur Rahman.
He said that they had decided to stop the movement of motorcycles on the expressway from today (Sunday) to reduce the risks of accidents.
The movement of the heavy vehicles 鈥� called as trailers 鈥� would be banned on the expressway also, he continued.
The project office, he further said, had already contacted the traffic police to stop motorcycles and trailers to use the expressway from Sunday.
鈥榃e allowed the CNG-run auto-rickshaws to run on the expressway following the demand of the public as a huge number of these vehicles run in this city,鈥� Mahfuzur said.
He said that the overall progress of the project to construct the expressway till now is around 90 per cent.
According to the project office, the project was approved in July 2017 with an aim to be concluded by 2020.
鈥楾he construction works under the project started in 2019 which halted during the Covid-19 pandemic,鈥� the project director said, adding, 鈥榳e actually worked since 2021.鈥�
The first extension in the project deadline was till June 2022, the second was till June 2024 and the latest is till June 2025, he added.
The project cost saw an escalation by Tk 1,048.12 crore to Tk 4,298.95 crore from Tk 3,250.83 crore.
The expressway is scheduled to put direct connection among the Chittagong Port, south Chattogram and the port city鈥檚 industrial areas including 鈥� Faujdarhat, Nasirabad and Kalurghat areas.
鈥榃e are planning to officially inaugurate the expressway and collect toll from the vehicles within one or two weeks,鈥� Mahfuzur said and added that they had already fixed the rates of the toll based on vehicle classes and as per the Roads and Highways Department rates for toll.
