Hyderabad, February 22: PVNR Expressway might have come as a boon to fliers heading for the airport, helping them avoid getting stuck in traffic snarls, but it has worsened the traffic chaos along the main road. Having failed to restore even a semblance of order despite quite a few experimental measures, the traffic police and the municipal authorities have concluded that a thorough study of the situation is needed to evolve methods to streamline the traffic movement .
In order to facilitate construction of the flyover, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) had widened the road, removed kidney islands, street lights and a Foot Over Bridge (FOB). This led to a further deterioration in the situation and traffic went haywire, especially near Humayunnagar police station, Rethibowli and Sarojinidevi Eye hospital .
The problem is acute at Humayunnagar police station where vehicles are seen coming from all directions causing frequent gridlocks. Surprisingly, no traffic signal has been installed there .
The worst sufferers in this chaos are pedestrians, who can never cross the road safely and without tension .
Traffic police officials told Expresso that many changes were contemplated at the Mehdipatnam crossroads, where hawkers and college-goers occupy a lot of road space during peak hours severely impeding the movement of vehicles .
“It has been decided to remove the hawkers in front of the Rythu Bazar and build a median so as to create a corridor where RTC buses can stop without interrupting traffic,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A Ravi Chandra said .
At this location, especially in the morning and evening, a lot of students gather and obstruct traffic by walking across the road .
Though an FOB here can help tackle the situation to some extent, it is not possible to construct one because of the flyover. In fact, an FOB here had to be dismantled to pave the way for the flyover .
Officials, it is learnt, are mooting a subway to facilitate easy pedestrian movement .
They, however, expect the conditions to improve once the line markings are made on the road .
Surprisingly, there is some confusion as to who controls this stretch of the road – the municipal authorities or the Road and Buildings department .
Another problem at the Sarojinidevi Eye hospital is the narrow road width at the mouth of the flyover. “We suggested that the road at the Sarojini Devi hospital should be widened for smooth flow of traffic,” Ravi Chandra said .
—Agencies