HYDERABAD: For the benefit of motorists going towards Mehidipatnam, Rethibowli and Tolichowki from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and to reduce pressure on the existing at-grade road, another down and up ramp would be constructed on the Inner Ring Road between Hyderguda and Upperpally junction. It starts near Pillar No. 156 and ends near Pillar No. 166 (for both up and down ramps) near Royal Oak Building, Upperpally.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) will take up the ramp works at an estimated cost of Rs 36 crore. The ramp will be provided with 5.5-metre-wide service roads on both its sides with the 2-metre-wide footpath. Tenders have been floated for the above works by the HMDA.
The down and up ramps at Upperpally have become necessary because the full intended benefits of the PVNR Expressway have not been realised yet due to lack of construction of a down ramp at Lakshmi Nagar junction. Due to this, a lot of traffic going towards Mehidipatnam, Rethibowli, Tolichowki are using the existing at-grade roads. The elevated corridor is useful only for long-distance commuters going to airport or city centre. The main reason is that the Expressway has one-way up ramp for the out-bound traffic towards the airport whereas one-way down ramp towards the city on the other direction is absent. The down ramp could not be taken up due to non-shifting of an existing religious structure and formation of service road by GHMC as the abutting plot is defence land.
Due to these reasons, high-speed traffic on the at-grade road along the IRR turned dense and saturated. The section of at-grade road between Rethibowli junction and Mehdipatnam has heavy traffic volumes and the average journey speed is less than 10 kmph during peak hours.
No traffic issues for 20 years
According to the LEA Associates South Asia, the addition of the newly proposed up and down ramps to PVNR Expressway may not have any traffic capacity problems for the next 20 years, subject to utilisation of the flyover by four-wheelers only
