Consultants of the Paksey Bridge, officially named as the Lalon Shah Bridge, are hopeful that the bridge will witness rapid growth of traffic movement through it in coming years and with this, economic mobility of both South and Northern region of the country will also be increased.

Growth of traffic will help the government repay the loan amount prior to deadline set by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Consultants also termed the newly constructed bridge as 'technically distinctive' bridge of the country compared to other bridges.

Chief consultant and Project Manager of the Paksey Bridge Construction Project Chris Round said that initially the bridge will see twenty percent increase. "By 2005, the bridge will see traffic movement of about 4,500 from both ends," Chris remarked adding "about 9,600 vehicles will cross the bridge every day by 2020."

There have reasons for which traffic movement will increase through this bridge. It has strategic importance in the context of establishing communication linkage with South and North western part of the country to facilitate economic mobility of both regions.

A report prepared by the consultants of the bridge shows that communication with South West of Bangladesh and Mongla Port facilities, through to the North West, India and Nepal via Jamuna Bridge to Dhaka, the commercial centre of Bangladesh depends on crossing the River Padma at Paksey.

An economic study of Road and Highway Department (RHD) mentioned that after the start of the bridge the Banglabandh land customs station will be busier and more export and import will take place between Bangladesh and Nepal.

Consultants recommended some toll rates to the Road and Highways Department (RHD) of the Communication Ministry. But considering the financial strength of the people of the country, the Department suggested tolls in reduced rates. The issue is under consideration of the ministry.

Anwar Ahmed, Project Director of the Paksey Bridge Construction Project and Superintendent Engineer of RHD told the newsmen that they suggested Taka 100 instead of Taka 150 for vehicles like minibus, pick up, Taka 300 for heavy vehicles instead of Taka 500 like buses and trucks and Taka 75 for small vehicles like private car instead of Taka 100.

From the toll collection the maintenance and operation of the bridge and service cost of JBIC will be met.

The Paksey Bridge has some advantages than that of the Bangabandhu Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge. Shocking absorbing unit at each pier and the largest reinforcement used in piling has given the Paksey bridge an edge over the Jamuna Multi-Purpose Bridge.

Use of shocking absorbing unit will help the bridge in case of any earthquake. Chris Power said that the bridge will be able to bear the shock of jolt upto 7 in Richter Scale. Reinforcement is about 57 milimeter diameter ever used in any bridge of the country.

Coating is used over the carriageways of this bridge while the lanes of Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge has no coating.

Keeping the force of currents of the mighty River Padma and presence of Hardinge Bridge beside it has compelled the contractors of the bridge to follow the precast segmental balanced cantilever erection method. That's why the foundation of the bridge is deepest and length of the continuous concrete structure is the longest in the world. Strength of each pier unit is 165 tonnes.

Sodium light used in the Paksey Bridge is more powerful than that of the Jamuna Multi-Purpose bridge which is also the longest bridge of the country. Power of the sodium light used in each lane of the bridge is 500 watt where Jamuna Bridge is using 400 watt of light.

Due to involvement of Chinese Contractor, the cost of main bridge and river training works were lesser than that of other local bridges. Where the one kilometer Bhairab Bridge cost about 100 million US dollar the 1.8 kilometer Paksey Bridge only cost about 112 million US dollar.