Hyderabad: In a bid to ease the woes of pedestrians at the ever-busy Mehdipatnam junction, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has decided to construct a skywalk to cross the junction safely. The skywalk is planned from the Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar towards the military area.
A series of bus stops on the military side and a bus terminal at the commercial side bring in a lot of pedestrian flow into that area. People crossing either side of the inner ring road face risk of accidents due to the heavy vehicular traffic in the area.
The design approach considered the two local roads – Asif Nagar Road and Gudi Malkapur Road. The aim is to provide pedestrian connectivity from the military area side towards the commercial and residential areas that exist near these local roads.
As per an official of the HMDA, the aimed project has been taken up by the development authority with an estimated project cost of Rs. 34.28 crore. “This skywalk or boardwalk will help pedestrians move across the roads without any inconvenience. This project includes an elevated pedestrian corridor and commercial building including lifts,” he said.
This was also announced by the Principal Secretary for Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MA&UD), Arvind Kumar. He tweeted: “Mehdipatnam finally gets a pedestrian skywalk (to cross over one most congested roads) & – 500 mtrs steel skyway plus 16 lifts including two in Rythu Bazaar.”
In his tweet, he also informed that MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao has approved detailed designs and that HMDA calls for bids. As part of this project, bus shelters will also get redesigned.
The site for the proposed skywalk abuts the PV Narasimha Rao Flyover and has an overall travel length of 380 meters which includes above-ground retail activity.