Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s roads are getting burdened. Bottlenecks, the ongoing Metro rail works, continuous road development, regular bus breakdowns, overload of vehicles, lack of traffic sense of the motorists, traffic jams and increasing chaos on the roads have decreased road efficiency and impacted the average road speed which now stands at 12 kmph. Added to this is the increasing number of accident-prone areas in the city. Traffic DCP A.V. Ranganath said the city had 85 accident-prone areas, and a recent survey conducted by the traffic police identified another 193 points as potential accident spots.
“A few bottlenecks have no alternatives. The major bottleneck on the Chaderghat-Dilsukhnagar road is at the Malakpet railway road under bridge. We have recommended tunnel ways on both sides,” he said. He said the traffic police would take up a new survey along with Uber Cabs to identify new bottlenecks. “Based on the report, we will submit it to the GHMC to take necessary steps,” Mr Ranganath said. Mr Syed Ahmed, an employee from Dilsukhnagar, said it was taking him one-and-a-half hours to travel 16.3 km to Erragadda during peak hours and the return journey more than two hours. “The traffic slows down at places where the Metro Rail work is on. The pillars have become deathtraps at Putlibowli and at Moazzam Jahi market,” he said.
Mr Y.V. Ramana, a software engineer from Alwal, said the distance between Secunderabad and Hitec City was 17 km but it took nearly one hour and twenty minutes to reach there. “I have been traveling on this road for 10 years and whenever authorities clear bottlenecks, other issues crop. Earlier, the narrow bridge on the nala at Begumpet was a big impediment but five years back the GHMC built a new bridge and the problem was solved. Soon after that though, road repairs started creating problems. Now, Metro Rail works are leading to traffic jams.”
He said most software professionals in the second shift waited for an hour at office to avoid traffic jams. “If we start for home soon after work, it will take at least two hours but if we wait for one more hour at the office, it takes only one hour to reach home,” he said. Motorists on the main corridors like LB Nagar to Lingampally via Mehdipatnam and via Panjagutta, Secunderabad to Lingampally, Secunderabad to Kondapur, LB Nagar to Kondapur, Koti to Lingampally via Mehdipatnam and via Panjagutta are facing traffic jams due to bottlenecks. To reach the RGIA, apart from the PVNR Expressway all the other routes have bottlenecks which are now impacting the average time taken to reach the airport.
