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.