GVMC?proposes outer ring road for Visakhapatnam

 

Visakhapatnam: As the second biggest city in the State, with a port and an international airport, Vizag has the right credentials to become the region’s capital and the proposal for construction of outer ring road for the city has again come to the fore, on the lines of outer ring road, in Hyderabad.

 

To address the ever increasing vehicular traffic, Vuda has already included an inner ring road covering the city, Bheemunipatnam, Anandapuram, Pendurthy, NAD and Convent Junction. Besides, an outer ring road to cover all other areas, under the GVMC, is also being considered.

 

Over the last few years, the city has proven to the rest of the world, by its fast- paced growth and development in terms of industrial development, tourism, lifestyle and culture. The eastern Naval command, Naval dockyard, ship building centre, and division Navel head quarters of the south eastern railway, accompanied by scores of small and medium ancillary industries, business, trade and commerce have contributed to the fast growth of urban area.

 

According to official records around 7 lakh vehicles are currently plying on the city roads. The traffic volume of the city is about 59 per cent of the total traffic volume of the district. National highway 16, Chennai-Howrah with a total length of 1014 km, is passing through Anakapalli and Vizag city. National highway 43 from Raipur, Sunki, Salur, Gajapathi nagaram and Vizianagaram road was linked to NH-16; northwards connect the Vizag city with Vizianagaram.

 

Gajuwaka junction; Venkojipalem Junction, Spencer’s Junction and Hanumanthuwaka junctions have been identified as highly accident-prone areas in the city. Gajuwaka is densely populated area, Venkojipalem junction is problematic, since traffic coming from MVP Colony meets the NH-16 where there is no better view for drivers to ply on the highway, Spencer’s junction is very busy with traffic and at Hanumanthuw-aka traffic diverts to Simhachalam.

 

Since the vehicular population in the city has doubled from around 2.50 lakh in 2002 to 5.50 lakh in 2012, then the number of road fatalities too has increased from around 100, ten years ago, to around 367 in 2012.