Heavy rush on Dhaka-Mawa Expressway ahead of Eid

The Dhaka-Mawa Expressway, known as the gateway to 21 southern districts, witnessed a surge in homebound passengers ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

Starting around 10:00am today, the volume of long-distance vehicles on the expressway began increasing significantly. As a result, toll authorities at the Mawa end of the Padma Bridge struggled to cope with the pressure.

Despite uninterrupted toll collection at all eight booths, long queues of vehicles persisted at the plaza until noon. The heavy traffic slowed down toll operations and led to sluggish vehicle movement on a 7-km stretch from the Mawa end to Dogachi in Sreenagar upazila.

However, as the day progressed, the situation gradually began to ease.

Engineer Abu Saad of Padma Bridge Site Office said, "Toll is being collected at 16 booths, eight on each end of the bridge. Additionally, there are four booths—two on each side—designated for motorcycle crossings. Although electronic booths are operational, only a small number of vehicles have registered for them so far. Therefore, almost all tolls are still being collected through conventional methods."

He added, "In the past 24 hours, a total of Tk 4.09 crore was collected in tolls from 37,465 vehicles crossing the Padma Bridge in both directions."

Commenting on the traffic situation, Officer-in-Charge Abdul Qader Jilani of Hashara Highway Police said, "Although there was pressure in the morning, traffic began to ease by the afternoon."

Ziaul Islam, in-charge of the Mawa Police Outpost, confirmed, "There was a high volume of vehicles in the morning, but no traffic jams or accidents were reported anywhere."