HGCL to Conduct Comprehensive Safety Audit of Hyderabad ORR
Safety consultant to identify accident blackspots and recommend measures to improve road safety on the 158-km Outer Ring Road.
The Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) will appoint a safety consultant for a comprehensive safety audit of the 158-km Outer Ring Road (ORR), the expressway which has seen dozens of fatal crashes.
“Data of all accidents on the ORR will be collected from police stations and other sources,” a HMDA official told Deccan Chronicle. “ We will analyse fatal and grievous injury accidents to identify locations of potential road safety hazards and the black-spots,” he added.
The surveys will be conducted for a minimum duration of eight hours every day, four during the morning peak period and four hours during the afternoon/evening peak period.
The timing would also be determined by the predominant time of occurrence of road traffic crashes, as evidenced by historical accident records. Based on site conditions, traffic characteristics, or accident analysis, extended traffic surveys for 16 hours or 24 hours will be taken up.
The audit cover the main carriageway, service roads, interchanges, toll plazas, entry and exit ramps, vehicular underpasses, pedestrian underpasses, bridges, culverts, slip roads, median openings, utility crossings, and all other road-related infrastructure.
The audit is being undertaken in accordance with the agreement signed in May 2023 between HGCL, which is a part of the HMDA, and IRB Golconda Expressway Private Limited which oversees certain maintenance aspects of the ORR.
The safety consultant appointed by the HGCL will carry out the existing road/operation stage audit and investigation of accident-prone locations. It will submit a safety report recommending specific improvements if required to the road, bridges, culverts, markings, signs, road furniture. The same also applied to project facilities, including cattle crossings and pedestrian crossings.
The consultancy will also undertake a topographical survey of the identified accident-prone locations and blackspots identifying all individual road attributes including any objects or hazards that are existing.
Hourly traffic volume counts at identified locations wher required, turning movement counts (TMC) at junctions, interchanges, and major underpasses, and directional traffic counts at mid-block locations on the carriageway will also be taken up.