The Hindu 01.12.2010
Road Under Bridge to come up at Safilguda
V. Geetanath
| GHMC plans to construct it near the railway station |
Huge relief:Traffic chaos at Safilguda railway crossing promises to be a thing of the past.
HYDERABAD: Scores of citizens traversing towards Safilguda and other residential areas from AOC Centre, Secunderabad, can look forward to better commuting with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) finalising plans to construct a Road Under Bridge (RUB) near the railway station.
South Central Railway (SCR) has consented to take up building two RUBs for accommodating both sides of vehicular traffic under the railway line abutting the Safilguda railway station. The municipal corporation will be taking up road widening on either side of the railway track from AOC Centre to Anand Bagh at a total cost of Rs. 31 crore, including for land acquisition.
GHMC Chief Engineer Dhan Singh said that through there is a long pending plan to construct a road over bridge at railway level crossing, it has been shelved at the preliminary stage for being unviable. The RUB has been found to be the best available option after a technical study to solve the huge traffic jams that occur whenever the railway gate is closed to let trains pass.
With several residential colonies coming up till Safilguda and beyond, the railway crossing became a big bottleneck as also the narrow thoroughfares on either side. Total length of road development is close to half a kilometre (495 mts) with 80 mts to be developed by the railways.
Defence authorities too have agreed to part with considerable part of their land (more than 9,000 sq.mtrs) to allow road to be developed leading to the railway gate. There are 26 properties to be acquired, seven on one side and 19 on another side, to increase the road width for four lane traffic. Altogether, 13,130 sq.mts of land is to be acquired.
SCR will be taking up the box type RUBs construction and each box to allow two-lane traffic will be of 31 metres length and five metres high. The CE said the initial two lane plan has been enlarged to four lanes considering the current traffic flows on the road.
With the SCR giving its approval, the final drawings have been submitted for vetting, he added.
