Outer Ring Road junctions may finally see life

Hyderabad: Thirteen junctions on the Outer Ring Road will have ATMs, hospitals, toilets, transit hotels, foot over bridges, children’s play areas, parking facilities and other amenities for commuters.

Many junctions on the 158-km stretch do not have emergency facilities, including fuel stations.  The four-lane highway has 20 junctions, and an inspection by a consultant of the HMDA, identified that junctions like Adibatla, Bonguluru and Tellapur areas did not have any wayside amenities, which means that one would get no help in emergencies till the ORR enforcement teams arrived.

Presently health centres are only available at Ghatkesar, Keesara, Kokapet, Patancheru, Shamirpet and Shamshabad.

None of the 20 junctions has parking facilities commuters currently stop on the carriageway in case of emergencies and it’s the same with vehicle service centres, transit hotels and foot over bridges.

Seventeen junctions have ATMs while Kokapet and Pedda Amberpet are the only junctions that have children’s play areas.

“The idea is to utilise the leftover spaces on the ORR interchanges optimally for the benefit of commuters.

Wayside amenities are essential since passengers and drivers need certain minimum facilities to make their travel safe and to reduce fatigue during long-distance journeys. Trauma centres are required to treat accident victims,” said HMDA officials.

Out of the 13 ORR junctions, 11 have interchanges and each one is an important part of the growth center as it acts as an epicenter for transit oriented development.

Developing interchanges will allow the authorities to earn revenue by selling or leasing these facilities. However, these center will not disturb the smooth flow of traffic especially near the junctions.

Because of the Outer Ring Road project, nearly 32,000 acre of land is accessible. The ITIR, aerospace and biotech industries will come up in the vicinity.