YSRCP MPs led by V Vijayasai Reddy met the Union minister for highways Nitin Gadkari here on Tuesday and pleaded with him to upgrade the state highways between Sabbavaram in Narsipatnam and Narsipatnam to Tuni in Visakhapatnam district to national highways. Vijayasai highlighted the plight of the commuters in the district due to ever increasing traffic congestion and said though the district had good road connectivity now, it was not up to the mark.
The State Highway (SH-009) from Sabbavaram Junction to Narsipatnam via Venkannapalem, Chodavaram, Vaddadi, Ravikamatham, Kottakotta, as well as the road from Narsipatnam to Gannavaram, via Kotanandur to Tuni (SHH-156) needed to be upgraded as national highways, Vijayasai explained. The length of the two proposed highways would be up to 109 km. Due to the upgradation of these two state highways, the proposed (NH 516E) National Highway from Kolkata-Chennai, Raipur-Visakhapatnam, Rajamahendravaram to Vizianagaram via Koyyuru, Paderu, Chintapalli, Lambasingi, Araku, Baudara, Kottavalasa, Lakkavarapu Fort, Shringavarapu would get connected to the proposed NH-516B from the fort to Baudara and it would greatly help the commuters.
The state highways from Vaddadi to Paderu, Anakapalli to Chodavaram, Narsipatnam to Thallapalem and Narsipatnam to Revupolavaram would also be connected with the national highways. As a result, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari district would be fully connected by road. The MPs also requested Gadkari to develop Guntur-Nizampatnam road as national highway which is useful for economic development of the district.