Komatireddy seeks 6+2 lane expansion of Hyderabad–Vijayawada highway
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Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy addressing a session on “Designing Safe Highways—From Standards to Implementation” at Chintan Shivir-2026 at Ekta Nagar, in Gujarat, on Tuesday.
Telangana has sought immediate expansion of Hyderabad–Vijayawada National Highway-65 into a 6+2 lane corridor, citing a sharp rise in traffic and continuing road accidents on the existing four-lane highway.
Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the issue had been raised specifically with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and that the Centre had assured that the proposal would be taken up for Cabinet approval soon, following which the expansion works would commence.
The Minister made the request while chairing a special session on “Designing Safe Highways—From Standards to Implementation” at Chintan Shivir-2026, Ekta Nagar, in Gujarat, on Tuesday.
He said the NH-65 had become increasingly congested despite ongoing work at 17 identified black spots, including flyover construction. “The 6+2 lane expansion of the Hyderabad–Vijayawada highway should be taken up immediately,” Mr. Reddy said.
“The success of a highway project should not be measured only by the kilometres constructed, reduction in travel time or increase in traffic capacity. The most important question is how many lives we have saved,” he said, adding that merely framing road safety standards and identifying accident-prone black spots would not be enough.
Mr. Reddy suggested examining the creation of an independent road safety ombudsman or safety authority to ensure that safety standards were fully complied with before major highways were opened to traffic.
Referring to international practices, Mr. Reddy said India could draw lessons from Sweden’s Vision Zero approach, Australia’s Safe System approach and road safety frameworks developed by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, while adapting them to Indian conditions.
The Minister said concerted efforts by the Centre and States were needed to achieve the national target of reducing road accident fatalities by 50% by 2030.
Special Chief Secretary Vikas Raj, Chief Engineer (National Highways) Dharma Reddy, Chief Engineer (RRR & CRIF) Vasant Naik, Chief Engineer (State Roads & HAM) B. Venkateswara Rao and other officials participated.
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