Homebound holidaymakers had to suffer through a night stuck in traffic on roads and highways in Gazipur after factories closed.

The heavy traffic subsided for an hour or so early on Tuesday morning, but has intensified again since the morning, according to passengers and transport drivers.

There was extremely heavy congestion from Monday afternoon to 4 am on Tuesday in the Chandra area of Konabari’s Kaliakoir Upazila on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, in Sreepur Upazila’s Mawna on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, in Jainabazar and Chandana-Chowrasta Station Road, Cheregali, Boardbazar, and the Signboard area of Gazipur highway.

After that it eased slightly. But, from Tuesday morning until 10am, the traffic began to intensify on the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail routes. However, a section of the traffic bound for northern regions had largely normalised by 11am.

“Traffic along the Dhaka-Tangail highway was moving slowly at the Chandra three-way intersection in Kaliakoir Upazila from Monday afternoon and then throughout the night,” said Md Shahadat Hossain, chief of Naozor Highway Police. “The congestion began to ease a bit on Tuesday morning.”

“There were long lines of traffic around 11:30am in the morning, but they were moving intermittently. Perhaps the situation may improve later this afternoon.”

Abdul Matin works as a lawyer’s assistant at a Gazipur court.

“On Tuesday morning, I took my car to Gazipur’s Bhogra area and reached my ancestral home in the Chankanda area of Mymensingh’s Fulpur in an hour,” he said. “I did not face any congestion.”

However, some vehicles were stopping on the road to pick up passengers and haggle over fares, which was blocking traffic and slowing it down a bit, he said.

Abul Hossain, a driver for Shoukhin Paribahan on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, said, “When factories closed on Monday afternoon and homebound garment workers took to the road it jammed traffic on the roads and highways. That continued until Tuesday morning. But, since 10am on Tuesday, things have largely returned to normal.”

Md Alamgir Hossain, deputy commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police, said, “There was a heavy rush of traffic at several spots on the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways since Monday afternoon. But there was no congestion.”

“On Tuesday morning, the flow of Dhaka-bound traffic got a little underneath the Chandana-Chowrasta Flyover, but it was soon brought under control. There were no issues with the Mymensingh-bound traffic on the flyover itself.”