DHAKA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Distance between Kuril-Purbachal link road near Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Tarabo, an area on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital city is 32 km.
It takes usually about one hour for a passenger bus service to reach Tarabo from Kuril-Purbachal.
The one-hour trip also includes the time spent to pick up or drop off passengers.
But Tuesday's situation was quite abnormal for conductor Nazir Hossain of Asmani Bus Service.
"We needed five hours to reach Tarabo from Kuril-Purbachal area this (Tuesday) morning," said Hossain.
"The bus moved at a snail's pace," he said.
This is due to very bad road conditions, coupled with poor drainage systems after days of incessant rain, he added.
Water-logging and potholes on many other Dhaka roads are also making it tough for motorists to drive.
Owing to incessant rains in the recent days, the road conditions have turned from bad to worse in the capital city of about 15 million people.
With bumpy rides on many Dhaka roads residents are extremely vexed.
An office-goer who fell behind schedule said delay in re-carpeting of many streets is causing inconvenience to residents during this rainy season.
The official on condition of anonymity said after digging up roads for laying pipeline and cables the relevant Dhaka authorities did not timely finish task to re-carpet them.
Against such circumstances, officials and pedestrians said Dhaka has been experiencing massive traffic jams over past few days due to heavy rainfall.
In many places on the Kuril-Purbachal-Tarabo road at the mid-day on Tuesday, commuters were seen to face massive delays amid huge traffic gridlock.
"We're extremely frustrated by traffic. We've been waiting in a long line of buses and cars for hours," said Abdur Rahim at an intersection of the road.
He said the situation is getting worse and worse day by day.
Many commuters took to the social media like WeChat and Facebook to express their anger.
"How long is the disaster of Rampura-Badda (a major) road in Dhaka?" writes one Koli Chowdhury in a Facebook post.
"A path which I usually pass in 15 minutes took one and a half hour," said Afia Begum at a Dhaka street.
After the recent rains, commuters said the road conditions have turned from bad to worse in many areas.
Vehicles with flat tires were found stranded mid-day on water-logged roads and people trapped at homes as some Dhaka low-lying areas were inundated.
The country's meteorological office said it recorded 49 mm rainfall in Dhaka in last 24 hours till 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning. There was also moderate to heavy showers across Bangladesh, as southwest monsoon has set in all over the country.
In the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning, it recorded 223 mm rainfall in the country's seaport city Chittagong where some areas also go underwater everyday during high tides.
Office employees in the port city reportedly have been using boats to cross flooded streets.
During every rainy season, roads in Bangladeshi cities and town usually get worn out.
Many residents in Dhaka often lack access to basic services and in the last 10 years, average traffic speed has dropped from 21 km to 7 km, only slightly above the average walking speed, said a new World Bank (WB) analysis.
"Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million working hours per day," said the analysis shared at a high-level international conference here recently.
It said Dhaka's urban development has not kept up with the city's rapid growth, resulting in a messy and uneven urbanization process and lack of adequate planning has led to poor livability and vulnerability to floods and earthquakes.
