Hyderabad: Bahadurpura bridge ready, set to open soon

Hyderabad: After ditching the deadline for more than two occasions, the Bahadurpura Bridge has finally been completed after almost five years. It is all set for ribbon-cutting anytime after Wednesday, as officials are waiting for a suitable date duly following protocol before throwing it open for public.

The 780-metre-long grade separator from Bahadurpura Police Station to Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Park, famously known as Zoo Park, was grounded give years ago in June 2018, as proposed under the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) by the GHMC to address the perennial traffic issues on the busy National Highway-44 (Bangalore Highway).

The bridge was proposed to be completed by 2021 at a cost of Rs. 69 crore, but the deadline was ditched twice in the past. Officials are attributing it to various reasons, including want of funds on time and Covid lockdown.

The 0.78-km-long bridge, buttressed by the support of 13 piers, will help separate the traffic coming from Puranapul and Aram Ghar on both directions. Vehicles coming from Puranapul and heading straight towards Aram Ghar can now follow the bridge to head their route simply avoiding a gridlock situation down the bridge at Bahadurpura Crossroads.

Similarly, passengers coming from Aram Ghar to enter the city can take the route of grade separator without taking hold of traffic at the Bahadurpura Crossroads. With opening of the bridge, it is hoped that the perennial issue of traffic jam at the Bahadurpura Junction will, by and large, be resolved, as it stood as a bottleneck for over a decade.

With work finally coming to an end, it is said that officials are waiting to get a signal from higher-ups to open the bridge duly following the protocol.

According to officials, the bridge is now completely ready to be thrown open for the public. They are just waiting to get a green signal from the higher-ups. "Nothing has remained left on our part. The bridge is completely ready to be opened for the public anytime after Wednesday," informed Dattupanth, Superintendent Engineer (Projects) South Zone, GHMC.

"There are certain protocols to be followed before opening the public facility; we have to abide by them," he said, adding that "the upper part of the bridge is completely ready to allow vehicles, while the underpass area is wholly under the supervision of the Urban Bio-Diversity UBD) authorities, who are raising greenery there to improve the ambiance."