Telangana scraps KBR Park flyover network, clears single elevated corridor

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has cancelled the planned network of flyovers and underpasses around KBR Park. The civic body's Standing Committee has cleared a single elevated corridor from Punjagutta to Jubilee Hills in their place.

The scrapped plan was sanctioned in October 2024 at Rs 826 crore, and its cost was later revised to Rs 1,090 crore. It covered seven steel flyovers and seven underpasses at junctions around the park. Hyderabad Mail reported the two phases were estimated at Rs 580 crore and Rs 510 crore.

Construction had begun before the plan was dropped. Hyderabad Mail reported that workers had started building pillars from the LV Prasad Eye Institute side towards the KBR Park intersection. Pillar foundations at Jubilee Hills Check Post were already complete. Roads had been dug for underpasses at Maharaja Agrasen Junction and near Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital.

The project began as the Strategic Road Development Project under the previous BRS government, Telangana Today reported. The Congress government renamed it the Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure project.

No authority has published how much of that money has already been spent on the works now cancelled. The Standing Committee approved the termination of contracts with KNR and Megha for the dropped works, Telangana Tribune reported.

Work had stalled earlier after a court stay restricted tree felling within the park's eco-sensitive zone. The New Indian Express reported the zone extends 25 to 35 metres around KBR Park, and that tree felling and translocation were kept on hold.

GHMC officials had flagged the uncertainty themselves. Telangana Today reported that GHMC sources said there was no clarity on whether the ongoing works around the park would continue or be shelved.

Land acquisition has added to the cost. Hyderabad Mail reported that the original estimate of about Rs 300 crore has risen to around Rs 750 crore, and that GHMC has not begun acquiring land.

Savings from the revision are disputed. GHMC Commissioner R V Karnan said the revised plan would save about Rs 400 crore, and that the one-way system with free-left turns had improved traffic flow. Deccan Chronicle reported the replacement would bring only marginal savings over the earlier plan. Some Telugu outlets described the decision as saving over Rs 1,000 crore, which is the outlay avoided on a cancelled plan, not money in hand.

The approved concept is a single elevated corridor, but its route and length are reported differently. Telangana Today said it runs from NFCL Junction near Punjagutta to Jubilee Hills Check Post. Telangana Tribune put it at about four km, six lanes, ending near Jubilee Hills Check Post Metro Station on Road No. 36.

Deccan Chronicle described a 7.5-km steel flyover from Jubilee Hills Checkpost to Muffakham Jah College, through Road No. 2 and the KBR Park junction. The Hans India said the flyover would run from Jubilee Checkpost to Nagarjuna Circle.

The New Indian Express reported the corridor would run from Jubilee Hills Check Post Junction through Mugdha Junction to Muffakham Jah College, with a ramp to Banjara Hills Road No. 1. The GHMC press release listed the Jubilee Hills to Muffakham Jah College steel flyover as a separate approval.

Works at TV9 Junction, Road No. 45, Film Nagar, Maharaja Agrasen and Cancer Hospital junctions have been dropped. The revision needs state government approval, then clearance from EPC Committee-III and the GHMC General Body.

The one-way system will be permanent. The Hyderabad Traffic Police introduced clockwise movement around KBR Park in August 2026 to help construction work. After a joint inspection, the Police Commissioner and the GHMC Commissioner found traffic moving smoothly. Officials said travel time around the park fell to five to ten minutes, from ten to twenty minutes at each junction earlier. Hyderabad Mail reported that some short trips now involve detours of nearly five km.

Traffic experts cautioned against treating the early gains as a lasting solution. "Bengaluru is facing traffic problems after implementing one-way arrangements on several stretches," Vinod Kanumala, founder of the Indian Federation of Road Safety, told The Times of India. T Satyanarayana Reddy, a retired scientist at the Central Road Research Institute, told the paper that diverting traffic through a one-way system could shift congestion to adjoining roads.

Footage published by NewsLine Telugu on Monday showed the stalled site, ringed by barricades, with exposed steel reinforcement beside an unfinished concrete base and an excavator moving earth nearby.