Hyderabad: People returning home from office, especially from north and the west of the city, were stuck in dense traffic for several hours on Friday night due to rain, potholed roads and the ongoing Metro Rail work.
A social media post by Chelluri Shankar sum-med it up: “Stuck in traffic for last 2.45 hours,” he posted on his Facebook page at 7.55 pm.
“Still yet to reach the destination. Rains, clogged drains in Hyderabad are making me helpless even to complain. Left Nacharam to reach HiTec City, am stuck without moving an inch for last 35 minutes — wife stuck in another location & son also on roads for 1.5 hours. Hopefully, will get home before midnight.”
At 9.45 pm, he posted: “4.45 hours dammit”.
HSBC employee Randol-ph Merandez said, “I log-ged out at 8.30 pm and reached home at A.S. Rao Nagar at 1 am. The trip usually takes 2 hours.” It took him two hours and 10 minutes to travel the 4 km from HiTec City to Nehru junction, which on normal days takes him half an hour.
Mr Ravi Kiran, another employee, said, “We get vehicles only after two hours as most of them are struck in traffic. Many of us choose to work overtime,” he said.
The worst affected roads passed through packed areas like Madhapur, Gachibowli, Biodiversity junction, JNTU, Kukat-pally, Balanagar, Narsa-pur, RTC crossroads, Paradise, Begumpet, Kha-iratabad, Nampally, MJ market. Ameerpet, and SR Nagar.
Prof. N.L.N Reddy of CBIT said, “The Kukatpally-JNTU road and Balanagar junction are always jammed. It takes 3-4 cycles of the signal to cross one junction.”
Traffic on the road from Oliphanta Bridge to Uppal via Mettuguda, Tarnaka and Habsiguda is another nightmare.
Roads via Dilsukhnagar, LB Nagar, and Saidabad to Chanchalguda which witnesses high density of traffic was also affected.
