HYDERABAD: Commuters in the Old City received a major relief from traffic congestion, with the launch of the parallel road overbridge (ROB) at Falaknuma on Friday.
Built adjacent to the existing structure on the Secunderabad-Falaknuma broad gauge railway line, the bridge was thrown open to traffic by transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar, along with AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owasi and GHMC officials.
The new structure will ease congestion and streamline traffic flow between Barkas Junction to Falaknuma depot, Charminar and other surrounding key areas. It will also provide major relief to traffic around Global School, Kali Mata Pilgrimage route and the Falaknuma railway station.
The project was completed by the GHMC and South-Central Railways at a cost of ₹52.03 crore. The ROB stretches 360 metres including a railway span, a four-lane bridge.
The works included a 36-metre box culvert, with three cells, 12-metre-wide light vehicular underpass, and at grade roads extending 60 metres on Chandrayangutta side and 100 metres on the Falaknuma side. Service roads of over 200 metres have been developed for improving connectivity, and repaired the existing ROB.
While administrative sanction was received in 2018, the works started in 2021. The construction was carried out by P. Venkateswara Rao under the EPC contract with Technogem Consultants Pvt. Ltd., the cost breakup included ₹17.85 crore for GHMC civil works, ₹16.19 crore for railway works, ₹12.16 crore for utility shifting (HMWSSB and TGSPDCL) and ₹5.83 crore for land acquisition.
Bahadurpura MLA Mohammed Mubeen said the old bridge had become a major traffic bottleneck with the number of vehicle movement doubled. “The works were delayed due to the railway activity. Now with the bridge opened to the public, it is a big relief for daily commuters and tourists,” he added.
The programme was attended by MP Anil Kumar Yadav, MLCs Riyaz Ul Hasan Effendi and Mirza Rahmat Baig, MLAs Mohammed Mubeen and Mir Zulfiqar Ali, GHMC commissioner R.V. Karnan, Charminar zonal commissioner Srinivas Reddy, other officials and locals.
