Hyderabad: The traffic police has shut down the Tarnaka crossroads. Motorists travelling from Moula Ali to OU have to take a U-turn opposite HMDA office. People coming from Habsiguda to Moula Ali have to travel till the end of Tarnaka flyover and turn. With this closure the city’s famous crossroads has vanished.
Mr Daman Singh, a resident of Lalapet said, “I work at Vidyanagar. My route is from OU to Tarnaka. Due to the closure I have to travel till the end of Habsiguda-Tarnaka flyover and then take an U-turn. During working hours there are traffic jams here. There is also fear of speeding vehicles, especially buses.”
However, the public considers this as a plus as there are no more jams right from Uppal when going towards Mettaguda.
DCP A.V. Ranganath, the traffic head of Tarnaka junction explained, “The crossroad closure was intended to smoothen traffic from Uppal to Secunderabad which is highest at the Tarnaka junction. The traffic from OU to Moula Ali and vice versa is 15 per cent while Uppal to Secunderabad is 85 per cent. Every day the department received hundreds of complaints on Tarnaka crossing. Thus a 200 meter U-turn has been created by shutting down the four road crossing. This was earlier done in Sanjeev Reddy Nagar and it worked well. People need not halt at the signal. Instead thay can save time time by taking the U-turn. The closure has improved traffic on the main line. There is no traffic piling up. We also examined the road width as per principle. This resulted in the creating of a U-turn at Tarnaka.”
Traffic expert professor Laxman Rao who is the head of transportation engineering at JNTU added, "Closing of crossroads affects the functionality of any urban system. This will create risks. When there are no traffic cops at the newly created U-turns vehicles from the sides and opposite directions will travel at high speed creating the risk of accidents. U turns are not scientific. It reduces the capacity of lanes. U-turns of 100 or 200 meters loses the capacity of clearing vehicles. But because of the Metro rail these U-turns are acceptable. We should appreciate the traffic cops for taking the responsibility for control when Metro rail has failed to give a proper traffic management plan."
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
