The harried motorists frequently getting stuck in the traffic snarls at Lakdi-ka-pul can heave a sigh of relief from Friday. The parallel road over bridge is all set to be opened by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at 11 am.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the South Central Railway have together built this two-lane parallel bridge.
The stretch has become a major traffic bottleneck as thousands of vehicles converge at this point from three major arterial roads, Nampally, Khairatabad and Secunderabad travelling towards Mehdipatnam, Masab Tank, Banjara Hills, Ameerpet and Begumpet.
GHMC officials told Express that the work of design and construction of approach for the proposed expansion of road over bridge adjacent to the existing bridge over railway lines at Lakdi-ka-pul was sanctioned by the MAUD on June 2, 2011. The work was later entrusted to M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd.
Total cost of project is about Rs 24.75 crore.The authorities have spent Rs 8.10 crore for acquisition of properties and shifting of utilities for road widening towards Masab tank in continuation of the road and buildings and Rs 1.40 crore for the formation of road, drain and footpath.
The total length of the bridge and approach is about 189 metres. The bridge portion is 23 metres, length of approach towards Lakadi-ka-pul is 91.50 metres, and length of approach towards Masab Tank is about 74.50 metres. The width of the carriageway is 10.50 metres, footpath on one side is about 1.83 metres.
They said the new road over bridge would help in easing out the traffic congestion problem at Lakdi-ka-pul as traffic towards Masab Tank and Khairtabad will be divided between the both bridges.