Construction of U-Loop at Paduar Bazar, Cumilla at the Junction Point of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway (N1) and Cumilla-Chandpur Regional Highway (R-140) to Facilitate Smooth Traffic Flow".

There exists U-turning facility both at Dhaka end beneath the Paduar Bazar overpass and at Chittagong end near the Nurjahan Hotel. However, these U-turning facilities do not have enough turning radius for large high-speed vehicles (i.e. bus, truck, semi-trailer). Moreover, those U-turning facilities do not have properly designed channelization for which vehicles turning with a high speed need to slow down to take a U-turn. Additionally, the sight distance is not adequate for the turning vehicles. It implies a great safety hazard by creating several blind spots. Although, U-turning facility located at Dhaka end is intended to provide U-turning facility to unidirectional traffic, this facility is commonly used by bi-directional traffic. This types of bi-directional U-turning maneuver within a small opening can cause fatal collision. At the same time, Chittagong to Dhaka approach road below the overpass near the railway is incomplete due to construction of dual gage double rail line. This discontinuity of road influences the driver to perform unauthorized parking near the overpass, which reduces the effective width of the approach road towards Dhaka end U-turn. In the upcoming future, when this service road will be completed, a conflict will arise between the flow towards Dhaka and U-turning which will reduce the Level of Service (LOS) of this important highway (N1). In case of U-turning facility at Chittagong end, due to deficiency of enough turning radius, the large vehicle (bus, truck, semi-trailer) need to attain the radius from existing carriageway, which hampers the traffic flow that comes from Chittagong as well as Dhaka. These factors encumber to attain full capacity of N1. The superimposed effect of these scenarios will reduce the LOS of the existing road (N1) by many folds. As this highway is the artery of our domestic road network, reduction in LOS of this highway will cause adverse impact in both economic and tourism sector of our country. In this back-drop, to cope with this situation two grade separated U-loop needs to be constructed, so that it will easily connect the Dhaka-Chittagong highway with Comilla-Chandpur Highway (R140) ensuring high LOS, mobility and improved safety.