Months after diverting traffic under the Biodiversity Junction, the Cyberabad Traffic Police has moved its experiment to the IKEA Rotary to manage the traffic congestion during peak hours. It has reduced the size of the rotary by over 12 feet to allow traffic coming Cyber Towers towards IKEA Rotary to take a U-turn at the IKEA Rotary. The rotary was about 40-50 feet in radius earlier. Commuters had to take a U-turn from almost close to the biodiversity junction to go towards Durgam Cheruvu Cable Bridge.
However, the task is not fully done. “The traffic situation is better than before. However, the volume remains high. Moreover, people are still not fully aware of the restrictions in place and often end up going on the wrong route,” said Rajkumar, an officer from Raidurgam Traffic Police manning the traffic at IKEA Rotary.
Those coming from biodiversity junction towards Cyber Tower are now diverted towards Meenakshi after barricades were put up on the side of the rotary.
What commuters say
“Commute time improve hone se lifetime improve hua,” said Ajith Kakaraparthi, an IT employee, who travels every day from Saidabad to Cyber Towers. “Earlier I had to make a full circle to reach Cyber Towers. With the U-turn right after the Mindspace Flyover, my travel time has reduced by about 10 minutes,” he says.
The move saves Ajith and many others from the hassle of taking a u-turn at Biodiversity junction, where traffic splits for Tolichowki and Gachibowli.
However, the ripple effect is already showing. According to Pavan Thimmavajjala, research associate at the University of Hyderabad and a regular commuter on the route, “the challenge now would be to manage the increased congestion in the underpass; which has been a pain point earlier too.”
“The rotary was always congested. I am just finding other ways to get to work every day,” said Bhavana Murali, a private employee working in Galaxy building opposite IKEA.
Bhavana, who travels from Gachibowli, finds the road from T-Hub more convenient, entirely skipping the rotary.
“I travel every day from Kondapur to my office in Galaxy building, Luckily, my timings, usually afternoon, works for me. But commuting back from the office becomes hectic because of the congestion at TS TRANSCO office. The U-turn is usually closed after 9 p.m., which adds to the woes,” says Nikita Nayak, a private employee.
Further interventions underway
We are exploring more such experimental restrictions on other junctions, including the one at Kondapur, the official said.
In a joint meeting with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Ronald Rose and Telangana State Municipal Administration & Urban Development Secretary M. Dana Kishore and Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC), the Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty made multiple suggestions to ease traffic movement.
Widening of the road from Khajaguda to DivyaSree is underway. “An extra lane will be laid on that road to ease traffic movement. The acquisition process of two private properties on the land is pending,” explained D. Joel Davis, Cyberabad Joint Commissioner of police (Traffic). The project cost is estimated to be around ₹10-15 crore.
