Explosive population growth in the Bangladeshi capital has led to epic traffic congestion.
Photographer: Peter Yeung/Bloomberg CityLab
Air Pollution Casts a Pall Over Booming Bangladesh Megacity
Dhaka’s air quality is among the world’s worst, due to traffic, construction, and industrial pollution. For its 20 million residents, solutions are desperately needed.
Rush hour along Dhaka’s Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, a serpentine road that bisects the Bangladeshi capital, resembles a chaotic citywide evacuation.
Thousands of cars, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, vans and double-decker buses, all vying for an inch of space, crawl forward like an urban glacier, spewing out great clouds of sulfurous exhaust.