Hyderabad’s ORR set to turn world class

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is shaping the Outer Ring Road (ORR) on par with the roads in developed countries. Presently, the solar roof cycling track, widening of service roads, beautification by installing sculptures, development of lush greenery, construction of an a trumpet-shaped interchange at Neopolis Layout, and entry and exit ramps to connect ORR and nearby localities are underway.

Meanwhile, the completed projects on the ORR including the life-saving Trauma Care Centre centres, Drip Irrigation Project and illumination of the entire ORR are yielding results.

Taking a leap ahead the Telangana government has clubbed environmental conservation measures with infrastructure development and the recent addition to the ORR i.e. the 21-km solar cycling track will be a trendsetter with the HMDA planning to generate 9MW of power through the solar roofing of the cycle track.

With the works on installing LED illumination from Kokapet to Shamshabad for a total of 136 kilometre being completed in December 2021, all these lights will be illuminated with the electricity generated through the solar cycle track.

Before Telangana was formed, limited lighting was provided by the former governments and the poor illumination also resulted in accidents on the ORR.

The electricity generated will also be used for the median and avenue along the 158 km ORR that has been embedded with an advanced drip irrigation system for watering the plantations along the expressway.

Apart from these environment conservation measures, the HMDA has also taken up measures for the smooth flow of traffic. The 7.5 km Nanakramguda – Telangana State Police Academy stretch and the 14.5 km Narsingi-Kollur stretch are service roads that are two-lane roads and are being widened to four-lane roads by the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), a wing of HMDA.

The HGCL has also restored the entire Outer Ring Road stretch connecting Gachibowli to Shamshabad by laying a bitumen layer. Meanwhile, beautification works by installing sculptures and the lush greenery along the ORR have further scaled up its beauty, making the commute a pleasant one.

Cycling facility an improvised version of South Korean model

Delivering his promise to develop a world-class cycling track in Hyderabad, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister KT Rama Rao announced that he will lay the foundation stone on Tuesday to develop a 23-kilometre cycling track with solar roofing along the service road of Outer Ring Road (ORR).

On Monday, KT Rama Rao took to the social media platform Twitter and announced that the solar cycling track will be ready before next summer.
The one-of-its-kind facility will be a 3-lane, 4.5 meters wide, bicycle track that will stretch for 8.5 km from Nanakramguda to Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA) and 14.5 km from Narsingi to Kollur.

The cycle track will come up along the service road of ORR, between the main carriageway and city side service road, and can be used round the clock as it is equipped with illumination. Out of the 23-km length of cycle track, 21 km will be covered with a solar roof with a capacity of 16 MW.

This cycling facility on the ORR is the improvised version of the South Korean model. The Hyderabad cycle track has more facilities including illumination; protection from rain, parking, food stalls, etc, Special Chief Secretary, Urban development, Arvind Kumar, said.

In this connection, the officials from HMDA also visited South Korea and studied a similar cycle track project between Daejeon and Sejong.