The main traffic bottleneck on the Old Bombay Highway is set to go with the imminent opening of the second stretch of flyover connecting Tolichowki to Gachibowli.
“The road is ready and can be opened any time, but we are waiting to complete the service road below it so that it doesn’t look like patchwork,” said a top official of GHMC overseeing the project.
Though the project is one year behind schedule, it is being seen as a boon for commuters from Mehdipatnam, Attapur, Tolichowki and other areas of the southern part of the city.
The twin flyovers — one on either side of religious structures for the up and down traffic — was conceived after frequent traffic gridlocks as the vehicles coming from Qutb Shahi Tombs, Gachibowli, Tolichowki and the inner lanes merged at the junction. The project began in November 2013 at a cost of Rs. 45 crore including the service road. Initially, it was to be a single six-lane flyover, but after opposition from the management of a religious structure, the flyover was split into two parts.
One section of the flyover was inaugurated last year with temporary roadblocks to create two-way traffic flow. Once the other segment of the flyover is inaugurated, it will be a smooth flow all the way.
“The inauguration of the flyover is now a political decision. We are waiting for the end of Ramzan to begin the work on service roads,” said the GHMC official.
“They should open the road as early as possible. They had delayed the opening of that other stretch of the road and people began using it before it was opened by a politician. The same thing is likely to happen here,” said Abdul Maqsood, working at a shawarma stall near the flyover.
Currently, the road stretch which is used by buses plying to Golconda and by commuters living in nearby areas is an apology of a road with four open manholes and unpaved bumpy path that raises a cloud of dust.
