PRESTIGIOUS PROJECT: Reinforcement work for piers of elevated Expressway corridor from Mehidipatnam junction in progress. The Rs. 450-crore Expressway will give direct connectivity to International Airport by March 2008. — Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Work on the 11.5 km elevated Expressway corridor is behind the schedule and it will take another month to notice a good number of piers on the ground. Said to be the longest elevated Expressway in the country, the Rs. 450-crore Mehdipatnam-International Airport (Shamshabad) flyover would have 325 piers and about 25 piers erected by April-end.

HUDA Chief Engineer Vivek Deshmukh said the progress of work was `more or less on track'. "The slight delay was because the pre-planning work and land acquisition took more time than anticipated. As per the first milestone set for August, the foundation, erection of 100 piers, 5 km of strengthening and widening of the Inner Ring Road should be achieved and "we are close to that," he maintained.

Good progress

The widening and strengthening of 11.5 km Inner Ring Road from Rethibowli junction to Aramghar junction was making good progress and more than 50 per cent of the area was covered for various works, including excavation and strengthening it with different grades of base and bitumen.

Each pier would have a footing/foundation and 25 pier footings are ready but pier casting is slightly behind the schedule. Two piers would be erected by this month-end, remaining 23 by April-end.

In the meantime, casting of segments has commenced at the casting yard located in a 20-acre HUDA site at Shamshabad. Each segment would weigh about 80 tonnes and two segments were ready and `launching' of segments between the piers would commence by May third week. Six casting beds were set up in the site to achieve the target, he said.

Connectivity

By February 2008, elevated corridor up to Hyderguda junction and the Trumpet interchange on the Bangalore Highway for easier connectivity to airport would be ready. The schedule is to give connectivity to international airport by March 2008 and complete the work by October 2008, he said.

The proposal to have a 2.5 km flyover from Nagarjuna circle to Mehdipatnam to facilitate people from Banjara Hills area access the elevated corridor was found feasible and it would be taken up subsequently, he said.

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