Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao inaugurated Hyderabad’s Mind Space underpass on Saturday, in a move that would provide major relief for several thousand techies who work in the area.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation said that the underpass happens to be the second project under the signal free traffic corridors, as part of the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP).
Built at an estimated cost of Rs 25.78 crore, the underpass is expected to ease the heavy traffic in the area as several lakh people travel through the road while commuting to and from their workplace.
A survey conducted by the municipal body stated that around 14,400 vehicles passed the stretch every hour and the number of vehicles was expected to shoot up to 31,356 every hour by the year 2035.
The total length of the six-lane underpass is 365 metres, while the closed box length is 83 metres. The total width of the underpass is 28.80 metres while it has a minimum vertical clearance of 5.5 metres.
Addressing the inauguration, KTR lashed out at the Centre and said that the Ministry of Defence was hindering several development projects in the city. He was referring to land acquisition issues between the Telangana government and the Local Military Authority (LMA) in parts of Secunderabad.
Stating that 100 acres of Defence land had been requested for the construction of Expressways, the Minister said that the Telangana government was willing to hold talks and work out the compensation.
He also said that the Telangana government had prepared all the designs for construction of expressways from Jubilee Bus Stand (JBS) to Thumkunta and from Patny to Suchitra junction.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) was prepared to take up the works at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore, KTR said.
“Apart from Mindspace Junction, three other multi-level/grade separators are at Biodiversity Junction, Ayyappa Society and Rajiv Gandhi statue junction with all the components costing Rs 379 crore. Apart from this facility, the underpass at Chintalkunta Checkpost too has been completed and is ready for inauguration,” the GHMC said in a press release.
Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Ali, Transport Minister Mahender Reddy, MP Vishweshwar Reddy, Mayor Rammohan Naidu, MLA A Gandhi among others were present during the inauguration.