HYDERABAD: An RTI reply on the Mindspace rotary, which is mired in controversy has revealed that the project, had predicted only a 4% increase in traffic during its Preliminary Project Report. However, in the last three years, the actual growth of traffic increased to 14%, throwing traffic out of gear at one of the busiest junctions in the city.
The RTI reply came in after a citizen appealed for answers on whether the project has been made after due considerations on the upcoming projects and offices in and around the stretch and the traffic increase that would follow.
The RTI also informs that the project envisioned bulk of the traffic to take the underpass to move towards Biodiversity junction. However, at present, people use the roundabout, which is designed in a 6-lane approach. It is of a 56-metre diameter with a peak hour capacity of 5000 pcu/hour.
In the RTI, the authorities also note that the Metro Rail Project which has reduced the carriageway at the entrance of the underpass from 6-lane to 3-lane is also adding to the slow movement of traffic which will be resolved once works are over. However, citizens are not buying the argument. “The RTI notes that the roundabout is not designed to have a traffic signal. It is strange that they thought it could smoothly handle such heavy traffic taking right turns and U-turns without a traffic signal. Moreover, the traffic police approval was not taken,” Vijay Ivaturi, who filed the RTI, said.
Further, the list of government departments involved in project design and approval included engineers from GHMC and SRDP and had no officials from the traffic department.