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2.2 OVERVIEW OF HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH The history of modern road development in Bangladesh is not very old. During the British period, water transport and railways served as the two major modes. At that time, road development was considered as a subject of local inlerest and therefore, the responsibility was given to the provincial governments. They in turn transfened the responsibility to the local bodres - the District Boards (Ali, Seraj, and Ahmad 60).The colonial British Government prepared a master plan for road development in '1938 for lndia, which included the then Bengal. However, road development according to that plan did not advance much due to outbreak of the World War ll in 1939. Consequenlly, at the end of the British Rule in 1947, there were only few kilometers of inter-urban paved roads in the parts of presenl Bangladesh. Realizing the importance of road transportation, the Transport Advisory Council set up by the Government of Pakistan at the time recommended the preparation and implementation of a Six Year Plan. lmplementation of this Plan also did not advance much due to non�availability of sufficient funds. After launching of the First Five Year Plan (FFYP) of Pakistan in 1955, the earlier road development plan had to be reviewed and revised. The FFYP was followed by two more successive Plans Under these plans, about 2,500 miles (4,023 km) Roushan '13 of mostly single lane paved roads and another 1 ,500 miles (2,414 km) of roads under various stages of construction were built by 1971 (Ali, Seraj, and Ahmad 60). Road building received a new impetus after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. Road transportation became the most popular mode of transportation within a few years. lts shares of both passenger and freight traffic became higher than combined shares of rail and water transport. The system is, however, still being developed and lhere are various issues that deserve attention for its effective functioning. The system suffers heavily from network failures due to frequent nalural as well as man-made disruptions This is especially prevalent during annual floods and other local disorders. ln view of these network failures, it is critical that the vulnerability of the present network should be examined with respect to the present pattern of traffic flow. The road network development is not still complete. Therefore, the element of reliability of the existing network can be considered in future road planning so that in the event of any link disruption, major or strategic traffic flows can be re-routed to keep the system effectively functioning. The longterm transport plans for Dhaka so far are, the Dhaka lntegrated Traffic Study (DITS), the Strategic Transport Plan (STP), and the Dhaka Urban Transport Study (DHUTS) (Choudhury). Dhaka's first comprehensive urlcan transport study, the Dhaka lntegrated Transport Study (DITS) was commissioned by the Government of Bangladesh in 1992-93, conducted under the Planning Commission and UNDP and reported in 1994. Recommendations were made mainly concentrating on the traditional elements of urban transport planning: developing road infrastructure, constructing flyovers, developing bus terminals and bus routes, and improving traffic flow management at intersections and across the road network ("Dhaka lntegrated Transport Study"). ln 2005, Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for the Dhaka city was prepared for 20 years (2005 to 2025) in order to introduce a transport plan to cope up with the demand of the megacity, Dhaka. The document incorporated sets of objectives to introduce a safe and reliable public transport system which would be affordable to individuals. STP proposed to set up three Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) and three Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) systems throughout the city within the stipulated time frame ("STP") Dhaka Urban Transport Study (DHUTS) aims at formulating the Urban Transport Network Development Plan integrated with urban development plan of DMA for the period up to 2025. Based on this plan, a general outline of the urban transport projects would be drawn Roushan l4 which will be implemented on a priority basis The target year of the plan is set as the year of 2025, which consists short term (2010 -2015), medium term (2016-2020\ and long term (2021-2025) ("Preparatory Survey Report on Dhaka,,) The Ministry of communication of the Govemment of Bangradesh comprises of two divisions: 1. Roads Division and 2. Bridges Division. Roads Division shoulders a vast task and plays a vital role in socio-economic development of the country. lt governs the following Departments and Organizations: (1) Roads and Highways Department (RHD); (2) Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA); (3) Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC); and (4) Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority (DTCA), The principal motto of the Roads Division is to ensure improvement of socio-economic condition of the people of the country through formulating policies regarding roads and road transports, and through construction, development, expansion and maintenance of environment-friendly and user-friendly integrated roads transportation. The Bridges Division comprises one department, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, an autonomous organization (Roads Division Ministry of communication). created in March 2008, the Division deals with all matters relating to planning, implementalion, monitoring and evaluation of construction of bridges which are 1soom or over in length, toll roads, flyovers, expressways, causeways, link roads etc. ll also undertakes steps to secure required funds both from external and intemal sources for implementation of such plan ('Welcome to Bridges Division")