AP govt plans 10 new roads to link NH-16 to Bhogapuram airport

Visakhapatnam: Authorities in the Visakhapatnam and Anakapalle districts are planning to link 10 more roads to National Highway 16, providing access to the greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram. They are now busy finalising the variation locations to connect those roads very soon.It is recalled that authorities have already taken up the construction or widening of seven roads on a war footing linking to NH 16 to reach Bhogapuram Airport. Apart from these roads, another six-lane beach corridor road will be constructed soon.The planned 10 new roads aim to reduce travel time to Bhogapuram to within an hour. "All these roads would ease out the traffic woes for the air travellers," one of the senior officials of the Visakhapatnam district said.It would take two hours to reach Bhogapuram Airport from Anakapalli, around 77 km, and its surrounding areas due to the traffic snarls, even though the six-lane highway of Anakapalli-Ananadapuram provides a hassle-free journey. It will take one hour and 30 minutes from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram, a 46-km stretch, and one hour and 40 minutes from Gajuwaka and its surroundings to Bhogapuram, a 63-km stretch. If the planned 10 roads were to be completed, then the air travellers would reach Bhogapuram within an hour.The greenfield airport, named after revolutionary leader Alluri Sitarama Raju, is expected to commence operations in July. During the groundbreaking ceremony of the Google Data Centre on April 28, the chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, announced that the airport would be inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi.The govt is also planning to deploy around 100 AC buses, most of them electric, in a phased manner. All these buses will operate according to flight schedules. Bus stations for electric buses are being constructed in the Gajuwaka and Simhachalam areas of the port city.