TRAFFIC in Dhaka and the sluggish plan for a remedy remain worrying. Urban planners, transport specialists and government at a seminar, which the Bangladesh Institute of Planners has organised on September 15, painted a stark picture of a city where roads remain mired in disorder because traffic management is neither professionally designed nor systematically enforced. The discussion has highlighted the persistence of manual signal operation and inactive lights that continues to undermine efforts to streamline traffic. Two pilot projects were presented as tentative solutions, one led by the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, involving automated signals at seven important corssings, and another by TrafFix in partnership with the Dhaka North City Corporation at Gulshan 1. Yet, the speakers acknowledged formidable obstacles to implementation, from technical gaps to the absence of dedicated transport engineering expertise. Others have warned that significant sums were squandered over the years without accountability. The speakers also pointed to endemic problems such as indiscriminate bus stops, traffic signal violation, wrong-lane driving and blocked exits that compromise even the most sophisticated signalling systems.
The discussion has underlined that Dhaka鈥檚 traffic chaos cannot be cured with isolated intervention or short-lived pilot schemes. While the new signal-control projects represent a step towards automation, they will not achieve sustainable results unless embedded within a professionally led, citywide strategy. The speakers have stressed the need for academically trained traffic engineers who can design, calibrate and maintain complex signalling systems, rather than relying on ad hoc arrangements or officers with limited technical preparation. Expert warning about years of wasted resources reflects how piecemeal initiatives, launched without accountability or integration, have repeatedly failed to ease congestion. The operational hindrances, from indiscriminate bus stops to poor enforcement of traffic signals and the obstruction of exits, illustrates that hardware alone cannot manage human behaviour or institutional gaps. A coherent approach shouid, therefore, align signal technology with disciplined traffic policing, pedestrian safety measures, restrictions on vehicle registration and reforms in road use culture. Without such a holistic framework, supported by evidence-based planning and professional oversight, Dhaka risks continuing the cycle of spending without delivery, leaving its citizens trapped in congestion and its economy hampered by lost time and productivity.
The authorities should, therefore, move beyond piecemeal remedies and commit to a long-term, expertly managed traffic strategy. Recruiting and empowering qualified transport engineers, enforcing disciplined road use and integrating signal technology with specific pedestrian and vehicle regulations are indispensable. Without political resolve and sustained coordination across agencies, pilot projects will remain cosmetic. A system is needed that values time, safety and efficiency; and, only a professional, holistic approach can deliver it.
