A new parking space, but will it ease the flow of traffic

A Mercedes Benz S Class stretches over 5.46 metres, a Scorpio stretches over 4.5 metres and a BMW 7 series is about 5.4 metres. These are some of the models of cars and SUVs that can be seen lining the 8.5 kilometre outer periphery of the elite national park known as Kasu Brahmananda Reddy park in Banjara Hills. So, can an automated park where 72 vehicles can be accommodated solve the problem?

“Those visiting KBR park will be using this facility. Right now, they are parking on the road, specially in the morning till about 8-9 a.m., now they will have a space to park and the road will be free — this way congestion will ease up in the morning time. Sometimes some of the walkers park their vehicles till 9 a.m., it affects the morning rush hour traffic on that stretch,” said B. Sai Prakash Goud, Banjara Hills Traffic Inspector when asked about the facility.

The park and its surrounding residential and commercial area has become a contested zone as the traffic in the area has multiplied. The once calm residential areas have turned into commercial hubs with offices, cafes and gourmet restaurants that have popped up all over the surrounding area from Yousufguda to Film Nagar, to Rd No 36 and Rd no 45 Jubilee Hills. This unregulated growth defying the zoning norms of residential areas has turned it into a traffic gridlock.

“In my opinion, the car park will not help. The parked cars are an issue in the evening traffic. In the morning, by 10 a.m., the road is clear of parked cars,” says Aasheesh Pittie, author and nature-watcher, whose office overlooks the sprawling national park. “More than anything else, the towering billboard matches the brightness of a setting sun from Road no 14 and it blinds the motorists in the evening,” he says, questioning the imperative to build a car park near the buffer zone of the national park. The national park has a core zone and a buffer zone where the walkway has been developed.

As a part of the park gets covered by a flashing billboard, on the other side of the park, citizens hope the park remains the way it is. “My class has a tradition of going to the park at the end of the month. We play games, try to find peacocks, listen to bird calls. It’s so lovely to be able to do that, since our school is very close by. My children look forward to it every month, and even count down the days for the visit,” says a Class IV teacher of Khushbow Vidya Niketan that is in Nandi Nagar abutting the park.