Although an overhead footbridge was built at Jatrabari intersection for pedestrians to get across, they scarcely use it and cross the busy road at risk. From Jatrabari to Sayedabad, a distance of more than 1 kilometre, most people cross the road, gesturing to speeding vehicles to slow down.

An evening kitchen market opens close to the park, encroaching on the sidewalk and part of the main road, in a major cause of traffic jam, a traffic sergeant said.

Talking to the correspondent, on-duty traffic constables and sergeants said people would not use the bridge if the sidewalk was not retrieved from grabbers.

Jatrabari-Sayedabad Road turns chock-a-block largely because of illegal parking at the intersection beside Demra Police Station, which slows rush-hour traffic.

Scores of buses jam the intersection to take passengers, occupying much of the road and reducing space for other vehicles to pass by. Passengers wait in a long queue on part of the road to board long-haul buses at Jatrabari, the only gateway to eastern and southern districts by bus.

Another intersection at the Sayedabad entry to Janapath Sarak that leads to Basabo and Kamalapur provides an opportunity for drivers to take a U-turn to go off in a wrong direction often in the presence of traffic police.

People rushing back home from work get stuck in hours of gridlock and most often they get down from buses to walk home.

"What can be travelled in five minutes takes on average more than half an hour. Hundreds of vehicles wait 40 to 50 minutes in traffic jam much to the impatience of homebound passengers after a day of hard work," said M Nayan of Demra, a payphone shopkeeper.

The city's road communications development authorities repair roads where it is apparently unnecessary, but Jatrabari-Sayedabad lacks proper sidewalks and dividers -- a longstanding demand, a resident of Jatrabari said, pointing to recent wasteful uplift of the Airport Road.

A college student said Jatrabari intersection should be widened and Demra Police Station be shifted from there.

Urban expert Professor Nazrul Islam said the problem would be solved if the government laid out a modern road design, including road widening, separate lane for rickshaws and sidewalks.

It needs demolition of the roundabout as happened in Shahbagh and Gulshan to fashion a modern road design, he said adding traffic discipline and management have to be ensured.

The problem will be solved if the flyover at Jatrabari and the eastern bypass from Demra to Tongi are constructed, Prof Nazrul said.

On whether there is a plan to develop road links, the then executive director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), Ouamrul Islam Siddique, said the area would be included in the next phase of Dhaka Urban Transport Project.

The roadwork to be developed according to the DTCB Strategic Transport Plan that will include modern road designs is scheduled to finish at the year-end.