Hyderabad: New road at Whitefields turns dangerous for commuters

The height of CC road at Whitefields, Kondapur is well above the ground level as it was laid without removing the already existing layers, making daily travel a tricky affair for commuters

Hyderabad: The under-construction cement-concrete (CC) road at Whitefields, Kondapur connecting Tech Mahindra road to Botanical Gardens road, which is around nine inches above the ground level, has turned dangerous for commuters.

The new CC road was laid without removing the already existing layers, leading to a situation where the height of CC road is well above the ground level, making daily travel a tricky affair for commuters. The situation for commuters got even more compounded when recently water logging points began to surface on the newly laid CC road.

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Due to its strategic location, on a daily basis, the road stretch witnesses heavy footfall of commuters. As a result, the residents have warned that if GHMC does not fix the issue at the earliest, then the stretch could turn into an accident zone.

“The GHMC should immediately ensure that the road height matches the ground level. If this anomaly is not fixed, then accidents will become a common sight at this stretch,” says Harsha Vardhan Reddy, president, Tranquil Towers Welfare Association, Whitefields, Kondapur.

Software professionals, who form a large chunk of traffic in the area, are not amused at the development. “This road is a veritable death trap and the municipal officials must address it at the earliest. Either side of the CC road are very sharp, which is quite dangerous,” Prakash Chaturvedi, a techie said.

On contacting, the GHMC officials said that gravel will be filled on either side of the road to match the height of the road with ground. “We are yet to fully complete the road laying works. Gravel will be filled to match the road height and ground,” says V Srinivas, GHMC Executive Engineer, Serilingampally circle.

Experts, however, told Telangana Today that merely filling gravel will not improve the safety of commuters. “Filling either side of a CC based road with gravel will be of no use because the gravel will get washed away during downpours,” says SP Anchuri, vice president, Structural Engineers World Congress-India.

Anchuri suggested that either the CC layer should be laid on either side to match the road height or ‘road shoulders’, which is an unpaved strip between the traveled portion of the road and the road’s outer edge, should be developed.

“If a road shoulder is not developed, the road will be unsafe for commuters. The guidelines framed in Indian Roads Congress (IRC) should be followed for the safety of commuters and for better road life,” said Anchuri added.