"I stopped using my car to go to office. Now I walk to my workplace every morning to save time," said Sajed Hasan, who works in a private firm at Panthapath.

It takes around 10 minutes for him to reach his office from Farmgate on foot while it is at least a half-an-hour ride in a car.

The two-kilometre stretch of the city's one of the busiest roads always experiences severe congestion that forced the authorities to restrict right turning of vehicles in a few intersections including Sonargaon Hotel.

The new traffic rules were made effective from December 9 to adjust the traffic movement with automatic traffic signals, although the automated signals have proved ineffective to contain the heavy traffic pressure.

Earlier, Sonargaon intersection was the only crossing where vehicles coming from Farmgate and Shahbagh had the option to take right turn.

Now the traffic coming from Farmgate are not allowed to make right turn at Sonargaon crossing. The vehicles have to turn to the left toward Karwan Bazar and then take a U-turn to proceed toward Panthapath.

The traffic coming from Shahbagh are also not allowed to make right turn there. If anyone wants to go to FDC or Tongi -Diversion Road, he has to turn to the left at Bangla Motor and then reach Sonargaon crossing.

But the vehicles coming from Hatirpool and those making left turn at Bangla Motor have to wait for 15/20 minutes to get a green signal for crossing the Sonargaon intersection.

According to Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), during the peak hours around 10,000 vehicles pass the Sonargaon intersection an hour while its capacity is 4,800. Each vehicle has to waste at least three minutes at the crossing and it costs Tk 7.6 crore a year in the wastage of fuel.

Project Director of Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) Abdul Quaium said the suggestion for prohibiting right turn has come from the traffic police who work in the field.

"Before constructing another alternative route or flyover, prohibiting right turn is the only solution to make the traffic manageable," Quaium said.

"As the city lacks an east-west road network, a huge number of vehicles rush to Sonargaon intersection, which is used as the only link between the eastern and western Dhaka," observed professor Nazrul Islam of the Department of Geography and Environment at Dhaka University.

"If it is possible to build a road from Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon, then the pressure on Sonargaon will be reduced," he added. "It is possible if few unscientific and unauthorised buildings are removed for the sake of public interest."