Telangana: Road Mishaps Galore On Khammam-Devarapalle Greenfield Highway
Faulty road engineering cited as one reason: Reports
NALGONDA: The newly erected Khammam-Devarapalle Greenfield Highway has become an accident-prone route even before its official launch. Faulty road engineering is cited as one reason.
The 162-km highway (NH-365BG) is a four-lane access-controlled expressway connecting Tallampadu in Khammam district of Telangana to Devarapalle near Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state. This stretch will shorten the road journey between Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam by 56km. The alignment of the highway removes the need to use the longer existing route that currently passes through Suryapet and Vijayawada.
As a trial, vehicles were allowed to travel along the Greenfield Highway for 120km during the last Sankranthi festival but NHAI stopped this permission within five days following a series of accidents.
NHAI was again allowing the vehicles in the greenfield highway from August 3 in 2026, saying the safety measures like radium caution stickering and lighting works were completed. But road accidents were still continuing on the greenfield highway. This prompted corrective steps.
When vehicles were allowed on the greenfield highway during the last Sankrathi festival, eight persons were seriously injured in a road accident on January 16, 2026 at Thallada. Two youths died in a road accident on January 23 at Kalludu in Khammam district. A police constable died in a road accident on the road on May 30. Following these, NHAI stopped allowing vehicles onto the road.
After taking up the stickering of radium caution lines and setting up caution boards and lighting system, NHAI once again decided to allow the vehicles onto the green field highway on August 2. But, the spate of accidents on the new road has not reduced allegedly due to bad road engineering at the entry and exit points.
A woman and her son died on the spot in a road accident on the greenfield highway at Dhamsalapuram on August 6. On September 12 alone, three accidents took place on the greenfield highway at different place in Khammam district, which claimed lives of two persons while five persons received serious injuries.
NHAI is yet to fully deploy its ambulances and toying vehicles on the greenfield highway to reach help to the accident spots immediately.
Its project director of Khammam-I, Divya karne, said all the road safety measures have been taken on the greenfield highway before permitting the vehicles. “However, in view of the accidents, we would review the steps,” she added.