Hyderabad techies commuting to offices in Hitec City and Gachibowli can breathe a sigh of relief with lesser traffic bottlenecks expected after one level of the Biodiversity Junction flyover was thrown open to the public on Monday. The 990-meter long flyover is uni-directional, and begins at the DivyaSree Orion SEZ and ends after the Biodiversity Junction, heading towards IKEA.
This flyover is expected to clear up congestion near the SEZ on the old Mumbai Highway, which is a daily affair for techies commuting to and from work. Constructed at a cost Rs 69.47 crore under the state government's Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP), the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) hopes that the flyover would ease traffic from Mehdipatnam to the Mindspace junction and also underneath it, towards the Old Mumbai Highway and Gachibowli.
It was inaugurated on Monday by KT Rama Rao, the Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development for the state along with GHMC officials. The project was scheduled to have been finished by April this year. However, it got delayed due to issues related to land acquisitions.
An alternate road is also being built, to ease vehicle movement on the road leading from Cyber Towers and Mindspace to Inorbit Mall and eventually Biodiversity Junction, enabling commuters to skip the junction altogether.
Only the second level of the two-level flyover was thrown open on Monday. Level one of the flyover begins after the Cyberabad Commissionerate on the right and ends after the Biodiversity Junction, in the direction leading to Rai Durg. Level two of the flyover begins near the DivyaSree Orion SEZ and ends after the Biodiversity Junction, heading towards IKEA.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) hopes that the flyover would ease traffic at the Biodiversity Junction notorious for traffic congestion.
The 'first-level' flyover which will help commuters from Gachibowli skip the Biodiversity junction, is still under construction and remains incomplete due to litigation. Officials have cited land acquisition issues as the main hurdle in completing the project.
According to a GHMC survey conducted in 2015, on the traffic congestion at various points in the city, it was reported that about 15,000 vehicles crossed the Biodiversity Junction every hour.
MA&UD Minister @KTRTRS inaugurated the Flyover at Biodiversity Junction in Hyderabad today. Minister @SabithaindraTRS, MLA @GandhiArekapudi and Mayor @bonthurammohan participated. pic.twitter.com/l4czPYBqnq
— Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, Telangana (@MinisterKTR) November 4, 2019
KTR also laid the foundation stone for a flyover at the Shilpa Layout road, next to IKEA. Under the proposal, a four-lane bidirectional flyover is being constructed from Shilpa Layout to Gas Godown. An underpass will be built at the Gas Godown road, and a six-lane bi-directional flyover will begin from Kondapur And end at Gachibowli junction, leading to Outer Ring Road (ORR). All three projects combined will cost an estimated Rs 330 crore. This will also help ease traffic congestion at the Biodiversity junction.
The GHMC hopes that the project would ease traffic at the Gachibowli junction and offer better connectivity between Hitec City and the financial district.
The Biodiversity junction flyover and the other upcoming flyovers are part of the SRDP, that includes 52 works of construction of flyovers and underpasses, taken up at an estimated Rs 26,459 crore.