In a bid to utilise the available carriageway effectively, the city police initiated major modifications to the traffic scheme at Lakdikapul from last Thursday onwards.
While the old Lakdikapul bridge was reserved exclusively for the motorists going towards Nirankari Bhavan earlier, the current scheme removes this restriction and motorists can now go towards Ayodhya Junction and further to Masab Tank using old bridge.
Under this scheme, the motorists coming from Ranga Reddy Collectorate will get a dedicated carriageway and do not have to wait at traffic signals to go towards Masab Tank or Nirankari Bhavan and this would reduce the traffic congestion, police officials said.
Those coming from Nampally and Ravindra Bharathi junction can also get an uninterrupted carriageway to go towards Masab Tank on new bridge or can merge into the traffic on old bridge to go towards Nirankari Bhavan.
The radical change is being implemented to remove the multitude of traffic signals that one had to cross at Lakdikapul, city traffic chief Amit Garg said. “We found that the old bridge was under-utilised in the earlier scheme. The changes are being implemented to bring a balance and provide uninterrupted corridor to the traffic flow,” he said.
Traffic police, however, had an arduous task of regulating the traffic ever since the new scheme was introduced. The traffic went haywire with motorists coming from Khairatabad and Ranga Reddy Collectorate scrambling to reach new bridge even though police kept announcing the changed scheme on loud speakers.
“Once motorists get used to the new scheme, it will prove to be beneficial as the waiting time at traffic signals will be removed,” Traffic Inspector T. Sudhakar said.
But the new scheme is not being applauded by all. The scheme does not address those coming from BSNL Bhavan and Ranga Reddy Collectorate and going towards Red Hills and Bazar Ghat areas and pedestrians, some complained.
Motorists going towards Red Hills will now have to travel an extra distance to reach the new bridge. “We now have to go to Ravindra Bharathi junction to take a ‘U’ turn. Traffic police have not considered our plight,” a motorist said.
When traffic gets free carriageway pedestrians who have to cross the road will have a tough time, P. Soumya, a pedestrian complained. “Earlier pedestrians could cross the Lakdikapul junction easily due to the traffic signals, now the same will be difficult as motorists will have a free corridor to zoom away,” she said.
