The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Risky ride for motorists on ORR

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Risky ride for motorists on ORR

Staff Reporter

The two-way stretch has no lights or a proper divider

Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Airport connectivity: The recently opened Outer Ring Road connecting Gachibowli and Shamshabad airport. —

HYDERABAD: An obstruction-free drive and little traffic might make the journey on the recently inaugurated Gachibowli-Shamshabad stretch of the Outer Ring Road a cool experience for a harried driver. If the four-lane stretch opened for the two-way traffic with just plastic cones segregating the two streams of high-speed traffic has made it more accident prone, the absence of lighting has made this 11-km stretch more dangerous for motorists.As per the original plan, the ORR which has a four-lane track on each side was to be divided by an elevated median. But, with the authorities throwing open the incomplete section of the ORR for public use, police could only think of using the plastic cones for traffic segregation.

With no impediment or ditches in between, people tend to drive at high speed and this enhances the scope for head-on collision of vehicles. To make things worse, lights are yet to be installed on the ORR stretch.

No median

Absence of median on main roads has been the main factor for fatal accidents, and several stretches like Vikrampuri-Karkhana and Punjagutta-Banjara Hills in the city stand as examples.

Accidents have come down considerably on these routes after the two-day traffic has been segregated by road medians. Traffic engineers feel this ORR stretch might witness head-on collisions reported earlier on roads without medians. But police have a different opinion. “Since the traffic is far less compared to the large number of vehicles seen on other roads, the probability of accidents too will be less,” Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police station Inspector Ch. Srinivas says.

Presently, authorities have banned trucks, buses and two and three-wheelers on this stretch.

This will reduce the number of vehicles on this route, but the idea behind banning them is the fear of accidents, it is said.

Though the 11-km-stretch of ORR from Gachibowli to Shamshabad was inaugurated four days ago, not many commuters are using it. Officials feel slowly the volume of traffic will go up and soon it will become one of the busy roads.

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