Sirajganj, Rajshahi
The long road-and-rail bridge across the Jamuna, opened in 1998 and long known as Bangabandhu Bridge — best seen from the riverbank at its Sirajganj end.
For generations, crossing the Jamuna meant a long and uncertain ferry journey between Dhaka and the north. The bridge, opened in 1998, joined Tangail on the east bank with Sirajganj on the west and changed travel across the country. It was named Bangabandhu Bridge and is now widely called the Jamuna Bridge.
It carries a road, a railway line and utility lines across one of the world’s great braided rivers, and huge river-training works were built to hold the Jamuna in its channel. A separate railway bridge has since been built alongside it to take the trains.
For visitors the attraction is the view: the long line of the bridge across a river so wide that the far bank is often lost in haze, with boats and sandbanks below.
Start on the town’s embanked riverside, where locals walk along the Jamuna.
Take a CNG or auto-rickshaw towards the bridge, about 30 minutes.
Watch the bridge and the river from an open stretch of bank, away from restricted areas.
Stay for sunset, then eat at a highway restaurant or back in town.
October to March; late afternoon for the sunset
The bridge’s west end is about 30 minutes from Sirajganj town by CNG or auto-rickshaw, and every bus between Dhaka and the north crosses it.
