Outer Ring Road in Hyderabad set for make-over, beautification after 12 years

Hyderabad: The Outer Ring Road (ORR) is set for a makeover and beautification after 12 years. Faced with problems of wear and tear, the road will be re-laid over a stretch of 158 km. To start with, a stretch of 25 km will be re-laid from Shamshabad to Gachibowli.

The HMDA has floated tenders of Rs.63.71 crore as also another one for '45 crore for an automated drip irrigation system for watering the plants on the medians.

According to HMDA officials, the authority would take up milling activities on the four-lane road on each side. To facilitate free flow of traffic during the restoration phase, two lanes would be kept open to motorists while work progressed on the other lanes. Though the speed limit has been restricted to 100 km per hour, the road is designed for travel at a maximum speed of 120 kmph.

The works would be executed in a phases. To begin with, the work on laying fresh bitumen roads on both sides of Shamshabad-Gachibowli stretch would be taken up. This would be done after conducting a “falling weight deflectometer” test.

Officials said that over the years, the road was severely damaged specially in the Shamshabad-Gachibowli stretch where vehicular traffic is heavy during the peak hours. Once the HMDA begins the road repair works, motorists have to bear with the inconvenience for a week.

The work on the entire stretch will be completed in a span of three months, they said.

“This apart, the median and avenue along the 158km ORR will be embedded with an advanced drip irrigation system for watering the plants along the expressway. The system is being set up to ensure the healthy growth of saplings and to cut down on the expenditure on watering the saplings,” officials said.

The HMDA has floated tenders of Rs.8,03,32,120. Once the tenders are finalised, the agency should commence work within six months and it would undertake to maintain the road for a period of seven years.

Through drip irrigation, the HMDA would save about '35 crore in seven years. The HMDA has been spending about '30 crore a month for watering the saplings via use of water tankers.

Officials said the use of slow-moving water tankers to water the saplings on the medians resulted in several road accidents. This was also a time-consuming process. Hence, the state government decided to set up the drip irrigation system on the ORR. It will be installed in three rows along the median and three rows on the shoulder on either side, totaling nine rows on the main carriageway of the ORR.

In addition to this, sprinklers and a basic watering system would also be set up in all the inter-changes. The entire system will run on an automated platform. In case of any defect or leakage in the lines, this will be detected by the system automatically with a timely ‘switch on and off’ mechanism.