Hyderabad: The unprecedented lockdown has turned all lives topsy-turvy. The Telangana government had extensively worked (or not) to make it easier, but it barely made any difference. But, apart from the plethora of challenges it tried to unknot, the government made rather surprisingly commendable use of the lockdown to expedite the process of re-carpeting the old roads and construct new ones.
In a purely material sense, an estimated Rs 1,500 crore worth of works have reached completion during the time people were locked up at home under the Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP), steered by the minister for urban development KT Rama Rao.
Immediately after lockdown came into effect, KTR sensed an opportunity to speed up and complete the pending road and flyover works including some key components of SRDP which aimed at decongesting the city, as there was no traffic on roads which facilitated expedition of works.
From flyovers to underpasses, elevated corridors and bridges, the SRDP aims to respond to the traffic needs of the rising population in the city. Apart from facilitating the smooth flow of traffic, these projects under SRDP have triggered major metamorphoses in the respective areas.
This year, Hyderabad also added the world’s largest extradosed cable-stayed bridge across Durgam Cheruvu – the bridge touted as the ‘icon of New Hyderabad’. It has become a tourist spot on weekends.
Here is the list of prestigious roads, flyovers and underpasses inaugurated this year:
First level flyover at Biodiversity
MAUD minister KTR and Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy inaugurated the Level-1 of the Biodiversity flyover on May 21, 2020. The flyover has been built at a cost of Rs. 30.26 crores and is 690-meter-long.
The flyover provides conflict-free movement, as well as relief to the traffic moving on the old Mumbai highway from Gachibowli to Mehdipatnam (Raidurg).
Kamineni RHS flyover
KTR also inaugurated the Right Hand Side (RHS) flyover at Kamineni Junction on May 28, 2020. The flyover has been built at a cost of Rs. 43 crores, and is 940 meters long.
The flyover allows free flow of the inner ring road from Secunderabad to Owaisi Hospital and Srisailam Road.
Vehicle underpass (VUP) at LB Nagar Junction
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) KT Rama Rao inaugurated the Vehicle underpass at LB Nagar on May 28, 2020. The underpass which has been built at a cost of Rs. 14 crores is 519 meters long.
Punjagutta Steel Bridge
Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali inaugurated Punjagutta Steel Bridge on June 19, 2020. The bridge which has been built at a cost Rs. 5.95 crores, is a 100-meter long bridge.
It facilitating the free flow of traffic from the TV9 junction and NFCL junction.
Bairamalguda RHS flyover
KTR inaugurated the Right Hand Side (RHS) Bairamalguda flyover in the LB Nagar constituency on August 10, 2020. The flyover which has been built at a cost of Rs. 26.45 crores, is 780 meters long and 12 meters wide.
The flyover facilitates the free flow of traffic from Secunderabad to DMRL crossroads, Santosh Nagar, Secunderabad to Owaisi Junction, on Srisailam road and Sagar road.
Durgam Cheruvu- Cable-Stayed Bridge
The most prestigious Durgam Cheruvu cable-stayed bridge was inaugurated by KTR on September 25, 2020. The bridge has been built at a cost of Rs. 184 crores, is 435 meters long.
The bridge facilitates the free flow of traffic from Jubilee Hills and Madhapur.
Jubilee Hills Road no 45 – Four-lane elevated corridor
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao inaugurated the flyover constructed at road no. 45 at Jubilee Hills on September 25. The flyover has been built at a cost of Rs. 150 crores, is 1,740 meters long and 16.60 meters wide flyover.
The flyover facilitates smooth traffic flow from Road no. 36, Jubilee Hills and Madhapur road and from Jubilee Hills road no. 45 to Mindspace Junction to Durgam Cheruvu.
