Construction of proposed foot over bridges at a few locations on the city roads has been put on hold owing to objections from the National Highways.
This has acted as a deterrent to the civic authorities from proposing new FOBs on these stretches where they are sorely needed.
National Highways wing of the Roads and Buildings department has not given a green signal for at least three FOBs on the NH- 65, which is one of the major arterial roads in the city, with lakhs of vehicles traversing every day.
On this stretch, FOBs have been permitted only up to where the Metro Rail corridor ends on both ways, said Engineer in Chief, GHMC, Md. Ziauddin.
Three pedestrian bridges were proposed beyond LB Nagar on one side and Miyapur on the other, respectively, at Sushma Theatre, Vanasthalipuram, Word & Deed School, Hayat Nagar, and Vijetha Supermarket, Chandanagar.
All the three have been denied permission from the National Highways, which cited its own developmental works in the offing, Mr.Ziauddin said.
According to reports, it has been proposed by the NHAI to expand the highway from LB Nagar up to Malkapur in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, at a cost of ₹545 crore funded by the Central government.
The road will have 12 lanes from LB Nagar up to Outer Ring Road, and 10 lanes from ORR up to Batasingaram, of which six lanes will be the main carriageway.
For the convenience of communities on either side of the road, underpasses will be built at Panama, Vanasthalipuram, Hayatnagar, Koheda, Pedda Amberpet, Abdullapurmet, and other locations. No pedestrians will be allowed on to the highway. Two FOBs are being proposed for their convenience, though the locations have not been finalised.
Highway expansion may increase the trouble for the pedestrians on the stretch, as they will have only about five to six places where they can cross over to the other side.
Already, pedestrian crossing at the Chintalkunta Y junction has become extremely difficult since construction of an underpass at the location under the GHMC’s Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP).
Since there is no traffic signal at the junction now, vehicles gaining tremendous speeds threaten the pedestrians who are forced to wait up to 15 minutes to half an hour merely to cross the road.
Published - November 09, 2021 08:33 pm IST
