I have been hearing about ORR (outer ring road) in Hyderabad for awhile but never had a chance to explore the full stretch.  I did drive couple of times on part of its stretch beginning from Gachibowli to Hyderabad Airport

Yesterday, I was at Ramoji Film City (RFC) area attending wedding of my team member Natesh.   Since the wedding and the lunch completed around 1PM, I was concerned about the long drive to Gachibowli (GB) via traditional route. It would have easily taken about 2 hours or more to reach Gachibowli where Cigniti and most IT companies are now located

My other colleagues who reached the wedding area in just 35 minutes from Gachibowli on ORR raved about the infrastructure and the overall drive.  So, I have asked my chauffer Mohan to give a try on ORR.    Below photos and videos (shot on iPhone 4) captures pleasure of driving on Hyderabad ORR

4 lanes on the either sides support most of the ORR stretch.  Part of the median is covered with beautiful flowers and trees, and other part still under development.  There was hardly any traffic.  Distance from RFC to Gachibowli is about 70 KM, and we able to cover it in 35 minutes.  It was reasonably safe to drive at higher speeds, than you are used on the regular highways.

Road wasn’t perfectly “even” at parts of the stretch so one could feel “bumps” at high speeds.    Toll charge was Rs.50.  There were just half a dozen EXITs on the ORR stretch that we explored.   We could see beautiful rock formations on the stretch and also noted that huge boulders have been blasted during the making of the ORR

However, we were conscious that kins belonging to prominent wealthy families died on this stretch while driving at high speeds both on 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers.  There is always fear lingering when you drive on Indian roads, that someone could ignorantly parks their vehicles on middle of the ORR stretch, someone driving in opposite direction or taking a invalid U-turn without any indication, a stray cow or a buffalo meanders into the freeway, giving permanent EXIT out of freeway.

All these uncertainties also keep us alert even without the need for any kind of caffeine  🙂

Click below for iMovie clip or browse the snaps.

You can see the Lanco towers in the far off distance (feel like as if you are approaching downtown)