The much-awaited four-lane road overbridge (RoB) at the iconic Clock Tower connecting Anantapur city with the National Highway 44 will be open for vehicles from June 1.
It will be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in a couple of months after the completion of the construction of the road underbridge, and along with it, he will also inaugurate the newly widened 9.2 km stretch of National Highway 42 in the city along.
Ahead of this, a rally with more than 1,000 bikes will be taken out at 8.30 a.m. on May 29 (Monday) from Anantapur-Ballari Junction on the NH-4 and will ride over the new RoB, announced Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkatarami Reddy here on Sunday.
The rally will pass through the Saptagiri Circle and Old Town areas to mark the eve of the completion of four years of the YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh, he added.
The bridge will be open for the general public to walk and view the city from atop from May 29 to 31. Regular traffic would be allowed from June 1, giving much-needed relief to the locals.
“Mr. Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken oath as the Chief Minister on May 30, 2019, and this new road developed over the last 15 months is a testimony of the dedication of our government towards infrastructure development,” the MLA said.
Project completion by October 2023
This construction of the RoB is part of the 9.2 km road-widening project connecting NH-44 with NH-42, passing through Saptagiri Circle, Surya Nagar, Collectorate and Pangal Road in the city. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by October this year, and the contractors are waiting for the land acquisition in some portions to widen the existing road.
While the original land acquisition cost was pegged at ₹7 crore, it has gone up to more than ₹30 crore for some portions of the Saptagiri Circle and near Clock Tower for laying the service road.
₹198 crore sanctioned
The MLA had made efforts to get the ₹198 crore project sanctioned from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the project was grounded on January 5, 2022, by demolishing the 50-year-old RoB on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru railway line.
The construction of a road underbridge at the same spot is also in progress, and it might take another couple of months for completion. The approvals of the Ministry of Railways got delayed, and land acquisition too is taking time, but the project is still within the contracted time, Mr. Venkatarami Reddy said.
“New lighting on the 9-km stretch will be inaugurated on May 29 night by District Collector M. Gauthami and Joint Collector Kethan Garg,” the MLA added. The engineering testing of RoB’s fitness for traffic was completed on Saturday.
