Only eight per cent of road network has footpaths: expert

Only eight per cent of the GHMC road network has footpaths, said T.S. Reddy, Team Leader for LEA Associates which has taken up a Comprehensive Transportation Study (CTS) for Hyderabad Metropolitan Area.

In his presentation at the one-day meet on ‘Sustainable solutions to tackle congestion for better liveable city’ organised by Institute of Town Planners, India, A.P. Regional Chapter here on Saturday, Dr. Reddy remarked that even those footpaths in the city were for name sake and in poor condition.

The CTS, which took up the study for Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), has divided the city into 695 zones and surveyed 33,000 households.

In the last 40 years, Hyderabad has grown by five-fold in terms of area and six-fold in terms of population size.

The HMDA has covered 7,100 square km which makes it the second-largest urban development area in the country.

During the study, it was also found that most passenger trips ended up in the centre of the city resulting in congestion, he said, stressing the need to decentralise. It was also pointed out there was a lot of potential area awaiting development within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) radius.

The two-wheeler presence has grown exponentially both in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts and it would continue to grow, he said. The hourly variation in total traffic showed that there were no peak hours like earlier but traffic jams prevailed all through from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.