Hyderabad-Bijapur corridor finds place in Road Safety report

Running through the districts of Rangareddy and Vikarabad, the Hyderabad-Bijapur State Highway extends from the APPA Junction where it intersects the ORR up to the Karnataka border

Hyderabad: The 118-km stretch on the Hyderabad-Bijapur corridor, which witnessed a sharp drop in road accidents, has been featured in the latest ‘Road Safety Good Practices in India’ report, released by the union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The study, conducted in collaboration with SaveLIFE Foundation and World Bank, said that the crash severity on this road was reduced by 38.1 per cent between 2014 and 2018 with the interventions of 4Es that include engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency services.

Running through the districts of Rangareddy and Vikarabad, the Hyderabad-Bijapur State Highway extends from the APPA Junction where it intersects the ORR up to the Karnataka border. The route was laid through several villages including Moinabad, Chevella, Manneguda, and Parigi. With a mission to sustainably develop this corridor which witnessed around 143 crashes and 84 deaths, a convergent approach by all stakeholders was employed. To this effect, Rs 29.79 crore was jointly invested by the State government and World Bank.

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Under the engineering intervention, along with giving contracts to those who performed the best, three intersections and 20 curves were widened and improved. Mobile barriers and fluorescent cones were also installed while street lights were upgraded.

Enforcing the road safety rules, outposts and patrolling vehicles were increased with highway outposts at Manneguda and Kodangal. As overloaded trucks were identified as one of the leading causes, two electronic weighbridges were also installed. Crashes in the school zones were also reduced through an outreach programme in educational institutions and a strict ‘No Helmet-No Petrol’ campaign was also launched in Adilabad.

Under the interventions in the emergency medical care system, a fully equipped Level-III Trauma Care Centre was established at the existing Tandur District Hospital, along with procuring other medical equipment. The four-thronged approach that was enforced by the R&B, Police, Transport, and Health Departments of Telangana and overseen by an Empowered Committee (EC) headed by the Principal Secretary of the Transport Department reduced the crash severity and deaths on this stretch.