Vijayawada: Municipal administration minister P Narayana told the assembly on Wednesday that the govt has readied different plans to handle the growing traffic issues in Visakhapatnam city along with expediting the metro rail project. He said six new roads would be built to reduce traffic woes between Gajuwaka and Bhogapuram airport.
“The govt has planned the construction of a 34.6-km-long metro from Gajuwaka to Bhogapuram via Maddilapalem and Madhuravada. We have sent the proposals to the Centre and are expecting the approval soon,” said Narayana, adding that works will start after getting a green signal from the Centre. He said traffic woes will reduce to a large extent once the metro train project is completed. “However, the metro project will take four years to be completed. We have directed officials to complete 15 internal roads to reduce traffic on the AH-45 road within 18 months. There is also a proposal to construct six roads from the old highway to NH-16,” the minister added.
Visakhapatnam MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna raised objections on the design of the road planned to Bhogapuram airport. He said the previous govt approved four different alignments for a single road. He demanded that the govt should immediately revise the plan. Speaker Ch Ayyanna Patrudu suggested Narayana to convene a meeting with all legislators to take feedback and plan better road connectivity for Visakhapatnam city from Bhogapuram airport. Narayana promised to conduct a meeting in the assembly next week.
