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The total road length in Nanded
city limits is about 415 km, including roads maintained by NWCMC
(400 km) and PWD roads (15 km). About 43 per cent of the roads
are un-surfaced, causing inconvenience to road users. The
riding quality of most of the surfaced roads are not up to the
mark, due to inadequate routine and periodic maintenance.
The road capacities, especially
in the core city area are grossly inadequate compared to the
traffic plying on them, and there are no pedestrian facilities
and signages. The Development plan has laid out a clear
hierarchy of roads with appropriate widths, but on the ground,
the desired carriageway widths are not available, due to
encroachments and non-availability of right of way.
Overtime, due to permanent
encroachments and hawkers, the road capacities have been reduced
and geometries have been altered resulting in unsafe traffic
operations.
The intersections need
substantial improvements in terms of geometries and other
functional elements.
NWCMC has embarked upon an
Integrated Road Development Program (IRDP) with technical and
financial assistance from Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation (MSRDC). The program covers strengthening, widening
and improvement of about 35 km of important city roads
(including a new western bypass) at an estimated cost of about
Rs. 112 crore. Work under this program is underway and is
expected to be completed before the mega Gur-ta-Gaddi event in
October 2008, though it has been albeit slow in progress.
Some of the important roads under
the IRDP include:
a.
Deglur Road: This road connects Nanded with Deglur and
further to Hyderabad. The traffic on this road is very high and
the road is damaged at many locations. The road is narrow and
the traffic lanes are not well defined. The junctions and the
roads crossings are not properly laid and which results in the
traffic jams and slows traffic movement. The junction at the
Hingoli road and Muhammedali road is extremely important for the
access to the Gurudwara but is not properly managed. The entire
road in the city area requires restructuring and re-planning the
existing Hingoli road to facilitate proper traffic planning and
smooth traffic flow. This road will act as the access road to
Gurudwara from the largest transit camps planned at Shikhar Ghat
and Matasaheb for the tercentenary events and hence the
improvement of the road takes priority in the development
process.
b.
Hingoli Road: This road connects Hingoli and Nagpur with
Nanded. The airstrip is along this road and hence this road
requires more attention for improvement. It already has a lane
system and but the drainage along this road is poor and hence
affecting the traffic.
c.
Malegaon Road: This road connects Aurangabad to Nanded
and is important from an commercial/economic view, which will
have to be planned as a priority Ring Road: This road is under
construction due to expansion of the airstrip area, part of the
Hingoli road will be covered under the acquired land and the
ring road is being planned as a by pass road joining the Hingoli
road to Deglur road. The road encircling the airstrip area will
be important for normal as well as the tercentenary event for
transport of pilgrims to the Gurudwara region as a major camp
will have to be planned near the Maltekadi Gurudwara. This will
also be the access road from the proposed new railway station to
the city area.
The connectivity within the city
is quite poor, with limited connectivity across the river
between north and south Nanded and across the railway line in
North Nanded, as a result of which development has primarily
restricted to the core city area between the railway line and
the river Godavari in North Nanded. There are 2 existing
bridges, 2 existing RoBs and 1 RuBs in the city, which need to
be widened and also complemented with additional facilities. An
new bridge is being constructed under the Holy City Program of
Government of Maharashtra.
Presently the Urban
transportation system in Nanded is mainly dependent on
Intermediate Public Transport system including Auto and Cycle
rickshaws, Jeeps and Private Cars operating as public carrier
and to a small extent by City Bus Services.
Bus-based urban transport
services in Nanded City was started in the year 1957 by MSRTC by
converting one Moffusil Bus operated between Govt Ayurvedic
College and Habib Talkies.
During the year 1998 MSTRC
operated 40 city buses with manpower strength of about over 250,
managing the same. Total of 49 routes were covered including 368
trips and 7,876 km every day. However due to heavy losses most
of the operations were curtailed and today only 4 buses are
being operated. One of the causes of failure bus service were
inadequate road infrastructure and traffic management system
leading loss of time and inefficiency in operations.
Presently the efforts are
underway to re introduce the Public Transport system by
involving private sector participation.
The other transportation
infrastructure includes a railway station and a bus terminal in
the city. There is also an airstrip, which is being upgraded
into a minor airport with assistance from Government of India –
the work for which is under implementation through Maharashtra
Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). A new additional
railway station is also being planned.
There are no designated or
designed parking facilities in the city – there is a need to
evolve a parking policy and facilitate provision of adequate
parking facilities at strategic locations in the city.
a.
The roads, especially in the core city area between the
river Godavari and the railway line are proving to be inadequate
to service the volume of traffic. The Development Plan
proposals have largely remained unachieved, and the riding
surface of the roads is poor due to inadequate maintenance. The
proposed right of way as per the DP for most of the roads is
either not available or has been encroached upon. Even the
available right of way in most roads, especially in core city
areas are encroached upon by hawkers and on-street parking,
thereby reducing their capacity.
b.
There are two RoBs and one RuB in the city connecting
both sides of the railway line in north Nanded, but these need
to be widened as they are proving to be a bottleneck in the
increased traffic scenario in the city.
c.
Most of the roads are in a bad condition in terms of
geometry, signage and other functional elements such as
pedestrian pathways, lighting, arboriculture, road markings,
etc.
d.
Public Transport system is almost non-existent – there
are only 4 public buses plying on select routes, operated by
MSRTC. IPT modes line auto rickshaw and cycle rickshaws are the
predominant mode of public transport.
NWCMC is undertaking initiatives
at implementing Development Plan proposals by widening key roads
in the city, which is involving substantial encroachment removal
and land acquisition. While some of the important DP proposals
can be implemented on a priority basis, there is a need to carry
out a comprehensive traffic and transportation study to
establish the traffic characteristics in the city and identify
all traffic bottlenecks before embarking on a large scale road
widening and improvement program. This would ensure appropriate
planned interventions and better application of scarce financial
resources. Such a study should address all elements of traffic
and transportation infrastructure and management including:
a.
Road capacity augmentation
b.
Upgradation of road surface
c.
Bottleneck removal
d.
Construction of missing links
e.
Safety
f.
Traffic management
g.
Public transport
h.
Parking
i.
Bypasses, etc.
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