Dhaka Elevated Expressway (Uralsarak) 2023
The highly anticipated Dhaka (Uralsarak) Elevated Highway is inaugurated on September 2, 2023. Dhaka elevated highway is another milestone in the country’s communications sector and would play an important role in reducing traffic congestion. Vehicles will reach Farmgate within 10 minutes from the airport via this road. You don’t have to sit in traffic jams like before.
The length of this section is about 11.5 km. It usually takes between an hour and an hour and a half to travel the 11.5 km between the airport and Farmgate. Sometimes it takes two to two and a half hours. But now it takes 10-12 minutes on the elevated highway. The total length of elevated expressway from Kaola, Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Kamalapur, Syedabad, Jatrabari to Qutubkhali on Dhaka-Chittagong highway is 46.73 km. Initially, the speed limit on the expressway will be 60 kmph and it will take 10 minutes for vehicles to cover the distance of 11 km from HSIA to Farmgate.
The toll rates set for the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) -Farmgate section of the Dhaka Elevated Highway ranging from Tk 80 to Tk 400. Private car, microbus, pickup and light truck Tk 80, bus and minibus Tk 160, medium truck Tk 320 and heavy truck or trailer Tk 400.
The total cost of the project is estimated at Tk 8,940 crore, while the viability gap funding is Taka 2,413 crore, which will be provided by the Bangladesh government. The project is owned 51 percent by Thailand-based company Ital-Thai Development Public Company, 34 percent by China-based company Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group and 15 percent by Sinohydro Corporation. After 21 and a half years of construction, the investment companies will collect the investment money by collecting the toll of the flyover.
What’s the difference between just highways / an expressway, an elevated expressway and flyovers ?
Highways: In fact, highways are long roads connecting various cities and countries. The term freeway is derived from the fact that the level of the road is kept higher than the adjacent ground in order to avoid any stagnation and to provide a smooth profile to facilitate traffic flow.
Expressways: Expressways are built to connect bog towns without crossing any local roads. If one needs to enter or exit the motorway, there are separate on-ramps so there is no interference with local city traffic .
Generally, they are designed for very high speed, for example above 100 km/h. If the entire length of highways is elevated on concrete structures, then it will be called an elevated highway.
Flyovers: Flyovers are constructed to avoid any junctions and the highway profile is raised above the intersection/junction and after crossing the junction again, it merges with the highway at ground level.