Two roads in Narshingdi to be ungraded into highways

The government has taken an initiative to widen two regional roads in Norshingdi area.  A project has been proposed in the Planning Commission in this regard to upgrade Itakhola-Mathkhola-Katiadi Road and Nayapara-Araihazar Narsingdi-Raipura Roads into regional highways.  
The total cost of project under Norshinghi Road Department has been estimated at Tk 984.84 crore. Officials hope once the two roads will be widened it would improve road safety and cost effective movement.
Mamun-al-Rashid, a member of the Physical Infrastructure Division of the planning commission said the two upgraded roads will improve the overall socio-economic condition of the people in the project area.
The Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) discussed the project on March 3 this year and recommended it to be presented at the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) with some changes. The Department of Roads and Highways by June 2025.
The project proposal said Itakhola-Mathkhola-Katiadi road is an important regional highway with a total length of 48 km. The road starts from Itakhola in Narsingdi on the Dhaka-Sylhet National Highway and connects to Katiadi in Kishoreganj district.
Out of 48 km of the road, 32.70 km is under Narsingdi Road Division and 15.30 km is under Kishoreganj District.
The existing 48 km road from Itakhola to Katiadi has a width of 5.5 meters and two lanes. Although the first 16 km of the 32.70 km road under Narsingdi Road Division has been strengthened under the Proper Upgradation of Important Regional Highways Project, the remaining 16.70 km remains unfinished.
Due to narrow width of this road, the traffic often meets accidents.
The Raipura-Narsingdi-Madanganj regional highway connects the upazila town of Raipura with the district town of Narsingdi. The total length of the road is 54 km. The existing width is 5.5 meters and has two lanes. The road is parallel to Thangi-Bhairab railway line and is an important road link between the upazila town of Raipura and the town of Narsingdi.
The Arshinagar area at the 18th km of the road is the connecting point of Raipura-Narsingdi, Sahepratap-Narsingdi and Putia-Shwaspur roads so there is always traffic jam.
Sources said due to large number of vehicles plying on the Raipura-Narsingdi road and and because of rail crossings in some areas, traffic congestion in Arshinagar area has increased significantly.
So the road needs to be widened and upgraded. For this, the Road Transport and Highways Department will upgrade these two roads from 5.5 meters merging 1.5 meters on both sides. It would have a shoulder of 10.30 meters wide in some areas.
The main project components are: rehabilitation of some existing temples, mosques and others infrastructure, earthworks, pavement widening, reconstruction of existing pavement, new hard solder, surfacing, rigid pavement, culvert reconstruction, culvert widening, 8 end building concrete Slope Protection,  development of side roads, intersection and bus -bay.