Putting an end to years of traffic woes, the proposal for a flyover at NAD is taking its first major step forward with laying of foundation stone by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday evening.
The ₹113 crore, Double Rotary Intersection (flyover) is said to be the first of its kind in the country. “It will have one-level for light motor vehicles and another for heavy vehicles including buses and a pedestrian way to enable seamless flow of traffic,” VUDA Vice-Chairman P. Basanth Kumar told The Hindu .
The lower level will be 21.2 meters and the upper level 24.5 meters.
Delhi has single rotary flyovers at India Gate and Connaught Place with 600 meters and 200 meters radius respectively handling heavy traffic, he said.
Since it is the first entry point to the city with heavy traffic from four sides, the seamless flow of traffic of all the three modes will be a great relief. Also idling of engines of vehicles which is said to consume eight times more petrol and to that extent pollution will be reduced, said Mr. Basanth Kumar.
The green space in the middle is the heat island that reduce the effect of heat and can be used a hawker’s zone or for parking.
The design is yet to vetted by an IIT.
The flyover will be constructed by Vijay Nirman on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis and is expected to be completed in 18 months. VUDA will provide the required finance.
With no traffic signals and pedestrian bridges it will save time and will be of immense relief to people coming from various parts of the city and going towards it, says MLA P.G.V.R. Naidu representing Visakhapatnam West constituency.
It is also going to spruce up the image as people get caught in the heavy traffic at NAD after they come out of the airport seeing the greenery and fine aerial view of the city, he said.
With smooth flow of traffic once the flover is ready it will be a thing of the past.
He denied that there was delay in launching the work.
“First it was Hudhud that hit us hard and it took time to recover from it. Then organising the prestigious IFR and finalising the design took time,” he said.
