The fresh coat of concrete mix that was laid a few days back between the gaps of the spans of the bridge in Attapur has flaked off. The ride quality has once again deteriorated to an extent that the key bridge that connects the southern part of the city to Mehdipatnam has turned into a bottleneck.
To compound the problem, the asphalt on the concrete span has disappeared making it bumpy. At places, even the iron rods used for reinforcing the spans have become visible. For the past few months, commuting on the road stretch on the bridge over Musi river at Attapur had become a nightmare as there was a gap of about three inches between the spans. While gaps between spans is a technical necessity for taking care of seasonal contraction and expansion, the big gap and uneven asphalt has turned the spot into a test for both men and machines. “There have been a number of complaints and we are on the job. The proposal to repair the road on the bridge has been approved and the concerned department has promised to take up the work in the next 30 days,” said a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation official from Karwan circle.
An earlier round of patch work was carried out about two months back and even the concrete footpath was replaced on one side of the bridge. “Two-wheeler riders like me are the worst hit. I have hit the spot with the front wheel at least three times. Now I drive on the left side of the road,” said Thara Singh, who drives a cab for work. The bottleneck on the bridge has a cascading effect on traffic flow with the vehicles going towards Langer Houz and Karwan stuck for a long time near the Ring Road junction.
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Online real time traffic map paints the road in red showing the density of traffic flow with a 20-minute commute time between Rythu Bazar and Eshwar Cinema, a distance of 5.9 km during peak hours.