Hyderabad: Shifting of Metro works from the periphery to the heart of the city has brought about a massive change in commuter behaviour and given rise to the need for the traffic control machinery to be improved.
Currently metro works are going on in full swing at core areas like Punjagutta, Ameerpet, MJ Road, Khairatabad and Nampally — all heavy traffic density areas — and many more bottleneck-prone areas will soon be taken up.
Traffic intersection points and comparatively emptier areas are suddenly seeing a huge traffic flow. The traffic police has suggested many new measures like signal improvement, creating of pedestrian refuge islands, railings at junctions, permanent free left structures to the chief secretary and GHMC to manage traffic effectively.
Commuters are also changing their travel patterns and avoiding routes where Metro activity is going on and are taking alternate routes and diversions identified by traffic police. Many are also taking longer routes to avoid the traffic slowdown and traffic jams.
For example, commuters are trying to avoid Road No 36 in Jubilee Hills and are instead taking Road No 45, some are coming via Mehdipatnam. “I have started avoiding the entire Jubilee Hills main road and take the Mehdipatnam route instead whenever I need to go towards Basheerbagh, as traveling from Madhapur via Jubilee Hills takes longer. Traffic moves at a snail’s pace during peak hours,” said Manish Shah, a frequent commuter.
This kind of change in travel behaviour requires junction improvement of the alternate routes being taken. Since the peripheral areas and main roads, which had been taken up previously, were wider, traffic flow was only reduced to some extent. However, with the high-density areas and narrower roads now being taken up for Metro works, traffic flow is likely to be impacted a lot. “We have also suggested that wherever Metro work is being done, no debris or construction material should be left behind on the carriage way as it obstructs the already narrowed carriageway. Till now most of the places where Metro works were going on were in the outskirts of the city, but now work is being taken up in the core city and this is definitely going to have a huge impact on traffic movement,” said Additional CP (Traffic), Mr Jitender. The traffic police, in a presentation made to the chief secretary, has suggested junction development, markings, and road improvement for the GHMC to take up.
Also, permanent structures for replacing cones for ‘free lefts’ have been suggested to keep the traffic in control and limit the flow towards the markings. “We have asked for road dividers to be constructed on many roads and increase the height of railings dividing the roads, so that pedestrians can cross at limited places only. This will reduce the chance of accidents,” added the official.
