Transport in Visakhapatnam

Transport in Visakhapatnam is the network of roads, railways, rapid transit system in the largest city of Andhra Pradesh . The city of Visakhapatnam also serves as the central hub of transport and logistics on the East coast of India and hence it is called as City Of Destiny.

There are various modes of transportation available in Visakhapatnam. It includes auto rickshaws, bicycles to mass transit systems such as buses and trains. Visakhapatnam is also home for a Seaport and an International Airport.

Roadways
Siripuram Junction

Visakhapatnam is integrated into the National Highway Network of India through NH 16, NH 516C, NH 516D, NH 516E, while two State Highways SH38, SH39 originate/terminate in Vizag. Visakhapatnam has a vehicle population of nearly 12 lakhs and is the highest in the state.

The city has a total road length of 2,007.10 km (1,247.15 mi), covering 1,865 km (1,159 mi) of municipal roads, 70.10 km (43.56 mi) of Roads & Buildings department roads and 72 km (45 mi) of National highways.[1] There are several arterial roads and ten junctions in the city,[2] where Beach Road, Dabagardens Road, Dwarakanagar road, Sampath Vinayak Temple Road (also known as VIP road),[3] Scindia Road,[4] Chitralaya Road[5] and waltair Main road[6] are some of them. Jagadamba Centre, Maddilapalem Junction,[7][8] Siripuram Junction, Madhurawada Junction, Gajuwaka Junction, Gopalapatnam Junction and NAD X Road are major junctions in the city.

There are plans to upgrade National highway NH 16 that is presently passing through city and shift it to newly constructing Anakapalle - Anandapuram Highway, so that unnecessary traffic passing through city can be regulated.[4]

Public transport
APSRTC Metro Luxury(A.C.) on Vizag roads
MVP Colony bus station at night

Bus

Bus Transit is the major mode of passenger transport in the city. Within the municipal limits of the city, APSRTC plies nearly 600 City bus services in the region which serve lakhs of commuters in city daily from Dwaraka Central Bus Station Complex, Maddilapalem bus station,[9] MVP Colony bus station, Gajuwaka Bus station,[10] Simhachalam bus station,[11] Kurmannapalem bus station[12] and Madhurawada bus station.

Also APSRTC plies various interstate and distant buses from Dwaraka Central Bus Station Complex, Maddilapalem bus station, Simhachalam bus station and Madhurawada Bus Station to major parts of the State and neighboring states like Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. There are kinds of buses that ply in city namely:

  • Metro Express Low Floor (non air-conditioned)
  • Metro Express
  • Metro Luxury (air-conditioned)
  • City Ordinary

Visakhapatnam Bus Rapid Transit System was completely operational.[13]

Cabs

Vehicle for hire companies serving localities daily are Ola and Uber, While Rapido gives rides for one person only. Private tour operators serve for commuting in major lines. Also there are Mini Vans that commute people from short and long distances ranging from 10 km to 100 km.

Others

Cycle rickshaws are only confined to a very small area of the city and are almost disappeared, which were one of the major means of transport.[14] Cycling paths are under construction in Vizag. By 2017, Vizag will be AP's first city to get such bike stations.[15] All India Bicycling Federation is planning to build 20-25 bicycle stations in the city, each hosting 25 bicycles. This project costs around ₹200 crore (US$25 million). GVMC plans to introduce a community cycling initiative over 10.5 km2 of roads in downtown Visakhapatnam, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. In the central parts of the city, cycling tracks will be earmarked on 100-feet roads to a width of about 8 feet.[16]

Railways

Train Transit is the major mode of transportation in the city, as the city is a hub for Major Industrial buildings, Employees and Goods are transported through trains. Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of South Coast Railway zone of Indian Railways. Visakhapatnam Railway Station is an A1 station with the highest gross revenue in the Waltair railway division. There are plans to modernize this railway stations under station modernization launched by union government.[17] Because present railway station is a terminal building and several constrains, Division has identified Marripalem as an option and is planning to make it an alternative for present station, that can bring trains ignoring city's main station. Other important railway stations in the city are:

Visakhapatnam Railway Station

Metro

Vizag Metro is proposed to be constructed in the city. GVMC has identified four corridors for mass rapid transit (MRT) covering a total distance of 75.3 km at an estimated cost of ₹15,933 crore. The first phase, extending over 46.40 km, is expected to be completed by 2025. They are Steel Plant to Kommadi junction covering a distance of 34.23 km, Gurudwara to Old Post Office covering 5.26 km, Tatichetlapalem to China Waltair covering 6.91 km and Kommadi to Bhogapuram Airport, covering a distance of 28.91 km.[18] It is estimated to cost ₹15,933 crore (US$2.0 billion) for the construction of these corridors.

Tram

Govt of Andhra Pradesh has planned to build trackless tram services in Visakhapatnam for a length of 60.2 km.[19] This tram would be included in four corridors namely NAD X Roads - Pendurthi, Steel Plant - Anakapalle, Old post office - Rushikonda and Rushikonda - Bheemunipatnam.

Airways
A view of Visakhapatnam Airport

Visakhapatnam International Airport

Visakhapatnam International Airport, situated to the North-East of Andhra Pradesh, is the main gateway for the city's domestic and international civilian air traffic. In 2017–18, the airport handled more than 2.8 million passengers. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Vijayawada,[20] Tirupati, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lampur are the major Airway destinations from city airport. Annually, 7.47 lakh passengers travelled on the Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad route, followed by 4.90 lakh passengers on the Visakhapatnam-Bengaluru.[21]

Bhogapuram International Airport

Construction of Greenfield Airport near Bhogapuram in 2,558 acres is on its way that could probably meet needs of Visakhapatnam city now. State government has handed over the construction process to GMR Airports Limited .[19]

Awards and recognition
Visakhapatnam Seaport
  • Visakhapatnam Airport was awarded Best Airport in Tier-2 Airport Category(Rest of India) in National Tourism Awards 2011–2012.[22]

Seaways

Visakhapatnam Port

Visakhapatnam Port is one of 13 major ports in India and the only major port of Andhra Pradesh. It is India's second largest port by volume of cargo handled in the nation.[23] It is located on the east coast of India and is located midway between the Chennai and Kolkata Ports.[24] Visakhapatnam Port has three harbors - the outer harbor, inner harbor and the fishing harbor. The outer harbor has 6 berths capable of handling vessels with a draft up to 17 meters while the smaller inner harbor has 18 berths that are Panamax compatible. Vizag Seaport owns two berths in the inner harbor; berth EQ-8 is fully mechanized and berth EQ-9 berth is not. Iron ore, manganese ore, steel products, general cargo, coal and crude oil are the main commodities handled at this port.

Visakhapatnam Port is undergoing a modernization and expansion program aimed at increasing its capacity to 130 million tonnes by 2016–17, entailing an investment of ₹13,000 crores. This will also solve the problem of air pollution caused by the open handling of coal that had earlier led to citywide protests.

The Visakhapatnam Port Trust plans to develop a satellite port at Bheemunipatnam to decongest traffic at Visakhapatnam. The project is expected to cost ₹2,000 crore (US$250 million) and is to be undertaken through a Public- Private Partnership (PPP)venture. Also govt plans to have a new port at Nakkapalli.[25][24]

Gangavaram Port

Another major port in Visakhapatnam is Gangavaram port which is considered as deep port. It can handle vessels up to 2,00,000 DWT. The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) which runs the Vizag Steel Plant had shifted base to this port, taking with it a large chunk of the coal and iron ore traffic.

Passenger

Cruise Shipping is operational between Visakhapatnam and Andaman and Nicobar islands.[26] There are plans to launch cruises to Kakinada.[24]

References
  1. "GVMC". Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013.
  2. "GVMC e-newsletter" (PDF). Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. p. 5. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  3. Ganguly, Nivedita (12 January 2017). "City roads chock-a-block ahead of Sankranti". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  4. "Upgradation of NH16". Times of India. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  5. Rao, V. Kamalakara (20 November 2016). "Shops exchanging torn currency notes make it big". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  6. "AECOM to prepare DPR for smart streets". The Hindu. 1 February 2017. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  7. "Land issues delay revamp of Maddilapalem RTC bus station". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  8. Patnaik, K. M. P. (29 March 2017). "Dangerous decibels". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  9. Gopal, B. Madhu (20 June 2016). "Integrated bus terminal soon in city". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  10. "RTC special buses for beach walkers". The Hindu. 16 December 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  11. Rao, V. Kamalakara (4 September 2016). "APSRTC launches 50 city buses on seven new routes". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  12. "RTC has to wait for new buses in Visakhapatnam". Deccan Chronicle. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  13. "BRTS to be fully operational from Oct. 2". The Hindu. 14 September 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  14. "Traditional rickshaws struggle to survive". www.thehansindia.com. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  15. Mehta, Sulogna (5 February 2017). "Visakhapatnam to get Andhra Pradesh's first public bicycle sharing station". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  16. Sarma, G. V. Prasada (24 February 2012). "Vizag set to become cycle-proud". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  17. "Visakhapatnam One Among 20 Railway Stations To Be Developed By Malaysia".
  18. "Vizag Metro Rail project to be completed by 2028". The Hindu. 26 October 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  19. "Trackless tram in Vizag". 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  20. "Flight Schedule Search". trujet.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  21. M., Manish (6 April 2017). "hyd bengaluru delhi: Vizagites often fly to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi & Chennai". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  22. "National Awards 2011-2012". Andhra Pradesh Tourism. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  23. "Competition shakes up Visakhapatnam port". HT Mint. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  24. Patnaik, Santosh (15 March 2015). "Vizag Kakinada cruises soon". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  25. Patnaik, Santosh (28 August 2012). "VPT to finalise consultantfor satellite port at Bhimili". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  26. "Cruise Shipping".
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