Before the advent of IT boom in the city, Mehdipatnam was relatively a calm area with mixed land use and lesser volume of traffic criss-crossing it.
Scene change
The scene has changed in the last decade or so after locations such as Madhapur and Gachibowli came abuzz with IT and related activities, and Mehdipatnam emerged as a major transit point between the new areas of development and the erstwhile city core. Now it teems with vehicles of all sorts and the roads, clearly not designed for high traffic, woefully fall short of the needs.
Unsafe stretches
The Mehdipatnam bus terminal, heart of the area, is a clear example of the chaos that prevails in the entire area and how unsafe most stretches have turned for both motorists and also the pedestrians.
The Comprehensive Transportation Study (CTS) for Hyderabad Metropolitan Area taken up on behalf of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) had taken a critical look at the prevailing conditions and came out with suggestions to improve the situation.
Based on reconnaissance and field surveys, consultants for the study, LEA Associates South Asia documented the high presence of the bus traffic and also the lack of safety aspects for the pedestrians.
According to the CTS Immediate Action Plan, approximately 20 per cent of the bus routes operating in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area either originate/destine or pass through Mehdipatnam area. For about 170 bus routes, a whopping 7,200 bus trips pass through the bus terminal every day.
No traffic rules
The entire activity of vehicles of all forms gets accommodated in the constrained area and as the report pointed out, lacks order, discipline and adherence to necessary traffic rules.
An unorganised bus terminal causes conflict points between different modes of travel resulting in spillovers and unsafe condition for one and all.
Mixed land use
With a mixed land use comprising residential, commercial, educational and transport, according to latest census, Mehdipatnam has a population of 1, 05,818 and as per the CTS study, approximately four lakh vehicular trips enter and exit the area on a daily basis.
The traffic circulation within the area is provided by Gudimalkapur, Laxminagar, Asifnagar, Langar Houz roads which function as distributors/collectors here.
