Five flyovers and underpasses on a 15-km stretch leave over 5 million commuters battling Mumbai Expressway traffic

Construction work is underway at the Novopan intersection, where the main roads are closed on both sides and traffic is diverted to temporary two-lane service roads. | Photo credit: By arrangement

With construction work on four flyovers and an underpass on a 15-km stretch of the Mumbai Highway (NH-65), more than five million commuters across one of Telangana’s busiest industrial corridors are facing daily hurdles, detours and shrinking road space.

Traffic is affected on the corridor from ICRISAT near BHEL Township to Ganesh Gadda, where flyovers are being constructed at Isnapur X, Lakdaram, Rudraram and Ismailkhanpet junctions, along with an underpass at Novopan junction.

At the Novopan intersection, the construction of retaining walls for the underpass for vehicles was accelerated, and the roads on both sides were closed and traffic diverted to a temporary two-lane service road with a width of only about 8 to 10 meters.

Traffic diversions at the site between Patancheru and Sangareddy where construction activities are underway. | Photo credit: By arrangement

Vehicles coming from ORR and Sangareddy towards Patanchera are diverted through the left hand service road from Pocharam Kaman up to Patancheru Vegetable Market Road before rejoining NH-65. Traffic in the opposite direction is diverted from Incor Lake City Apartments to Ramky Infra Tower before merging back onto the highway.

The Patancher stretch, now under the Cyberabad Commissionerate of Police, serves as a critical artery connecting Hyderabad to Sangareddy and beyond towards Maharashtra and Karnataka, while supporting daily movement to some of the state’s largest industrial clusters. The traffic police estimate that more than 5 million commuters use the corridor daily. This includes approximately 2 million employees in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing units at IDA Patancheru and IDA Pashamylaram.

School and college buses and heavy goods vehicles transporting raw materials and finished products form another significant part of road traffic. The corridor is also used by more than one million migrant workers residing in locations such as Isnapur and Chitkul, who are employed in brick kilns, construction sites and small scale industries. The resulting mix of industrial traffic, employee traffic, educational institution buses and freight movement leaves little room for traffic absorption when lanes are reduced for construction activity.

Patancheru Traffic Inspector Ashok said that the simultaneous execution of several projects has created traffic management problems. “We have less staff and there is more work going on. About 20 staff manage this section, with about 10 members deployed in each shift,” he said.

According to him, Novopan and Isnapur remain the most congested locations, while other pressure points include the Sri Siddhi Vinayaka Temple area at Rudraram, which is witnessing significant daytime traffic, and Muthangi near Exit 3 of the ORR, where residential and commercial traffic continues to grow.

Sangareddy District Collector Prateek Jain, SP Paritosh Pankaj, Patancheru transport officials and the National Highways Authority conducted inspections at the Novopan junction where construction activity picked up in late May. | Photo credit: By arrangement

Patancheru Inspector G. Vinayak Reddy said traffic congestion is severe between 8:00 am and 10:00 am and again from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm when industry workers travel to and from work, necessitating the deployment of police and orderlies along with traffic police and marshals.

Officials estimate that commuters experience delays ranging from 15 to 30 minutes most days. “I preferred to go to work by car, but with the ongoing construction, I have switched to the company bus. After crossing Patancher, there is still IT traffic to deal with before I get home to Chandanagar,” said R. Priyadarshini, a pharmaceutical employee who commutes to Pashamylaram daily.

Deputy Executive Engineer Ramakrishna of the Telangana Roads and Buildings (R&B) National Highways Department said the target was to complete the construction work by March 2027. “Some land acquisition issues persist at certain places. There are religious structures and residential properties in places like Muthangi and Isnapur where land acquisition is still required,” he said.

A section on Mumbai Expressway, Patancheru Road and Sangareddy Road where construction activities are going on. | Acknowledgments for the video: BY AGREEMENT

He said zoning restrictions affected the sequence of construction activities. “The service roads should have been completed first before the main road work started. Due to land constraints, we had to do both at the same time in some locations, which increased the inconvenience for road users,” he said.

Published – 09 Jun 2026 19:13 IST