Hyderabad RRR downgraded to highway, costs cut
HYDERABAD: The Centre has decided to scale down the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR), removing its expressway status and redesigning it as a standard national highway to cut costs.
The project, earlier projected as a high-standard expressway surpassing the Outer Ring Road (ORR), will now lose several key features. Officials cited the estimated cost of over ₹38,000 crore for both northern and southern stretches as the reason for the revision.
Centre trims features to reduce expenditure
Over the past two months, officials reviewed the project and reduced specifications in phases to bring down costs. The number of lanes has been cut from eight to six. Service roads were first replaced with access paths and later removed entirely. Street lighting will now be limited to inhabited areas.
The number of underpasses has also been reduced by half. In the northern stretch alone, proposed bridges will be cut significantly from the earlier plan of 204.
Expressway status removed, speed limit reduced
Authorities have now removed the expressway tag altogether. The maximum speed limit has been reduced from 120 kmph to below 100 kmph.
With these changes, officials estimate that the project cost will fall by around 25 per cent. However, the redesign has altered the project’s original scale and specifications.
Original plan vs revised design
Initially, the RRR was proposed as one of the longest eight-lane ring road expressways in the country, with a total length of about 362 km. The design included full-length LED street lighting, service roads, and high embankments to support higher speeds.
In the revised plan, while the length remains unchanged, most expressway features have been removed. The road will now follow standard national highway norms with lower embankment height and reduced visibility distance.
The vertical curve design has also been modified, reducing visibility from about 600 metres to around 360 metres. Officials indicated that this could affect driving conditions at higher speeds.
The removal of access paths means there will be no parallel service or kaccha roads alongside the main carriageway. Vehicles may need to travel longer distances to take U-turns at designated points.
