Hyderabad: Biodiversity flyover may open in 10 days

Hyderabad: The Biodiversity Flyover, which was closed for public use at the end of November, will be thrown open to the public in another 10 days, said Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC’s) commissioner D.S. Lokesh Kumar, on Wednesday.

The civic chief said that a panel of four experts formed to check the flyover’s construction and design had given it a clean chit. Their report was given to the GHMC and will be sent to the state government, which will then deliberate on the flyover’s opening. This, officials say, is expected over the next 10 days.

“The design and construction of the flyover was studied, and the experts found no deviations. They suggested a few measures to make it a safe flyover. They opined that the speed limit on the flyover be restricted to 40 kmph,” the GHMC chief said,

“They also said that there must be continuous monitoring of vehicular speed. We will look to place on-road signage of the speed limits,” he said.

Also, there was a suggestion on setting up of view cutters — sheets of metal or asbestos used to shield the flyover or stop motorists from peering at things around flyovers—- as the high-rises around the flyover could prove to be a distraction.

“We are talking to the police to levy heavy fines on people speeding or driving rashly on the flyover,” he said.

The civic body is also mulling plans to have barricades in a zigzag manner on the flyover, during non-peak hours, so as to prevent speeding.

It may be recalled that the Indian Road Congress (IRC) had issued guidelines that three lanes should maintain a width of 3.5 metre x 3.5 metre. Further, at steep curves, in order to prevent accidents, a width of 3.5 x 5.5 should be maintained. However, these vital parameters were compromised by the civic authorities due to land acquisition issues.

When contacted, Chief Engineer R Sreedhar refused to comment and slammed his phone down.

A major accident took place on November 23 after a speeding car travelling on the newly-opened flyover lost control and fell off the bridge, damaging two cars underneath the flyover, killing a woman, and injuring six others.

Separately, the civic body plans to establish pedestrian-friendly junctions in the city.

“We have already asked officials to identify 10 kms in each zone which would be made pedestrian friendly. We will come up with 54 new Foot-Over-Bridges, and 3,000 new parks with toilet facilities,” said Kumar.