arcroad · the road beyond the detour
What else the road costs you.
A closed median gap is one cost. Here are the others arcroad tracks, and what it has found so far.
first findings measuring designed
Temporary dividers and barricades measuring
Movable barriers that close a median gap or split a road. Many stay long after their reason, and each can turn a 20-metre crossing into a 2-kilometre loop.
What we record for each one
| What is recorded | How |
|---|---|
| Where it is, what it closes (a median gap, a turn, a lane) and the date first seen | Dated photos on each pass; the gap in the map model that it blocks |
| The detour it creates, in metres and minutes | Driven passes either side, as on the results page |
| Whether an official notice exists: a traffic police advisory, a works order, a stated end date | Official notices; where none is found the record says "no notice found", not "illegal" |
| How long it has stood | First and latest dated photo; "still in place after N days" |
| Night safety: reflectors, lights, signs ahead | Night photos |
| Whether people cross anyway: gaps forced between blocks, wrong-side riding nearby | Photos, aggregate only |
| What it costs people while it stands | The cost calculator, as a range, labelled an estimate |
Works and the stage they are at designed
Every flyover, metro, drain, cable or water-line dig gets one stage label per dated visit, and an info button.
The stages, and the info button
| Stage | On the road |
|---|---|
| 0 Announced | Nothing yet; a tender or works order exists |
| 1 Mobilised | Barricades, board, machinery, no digging |
| 2 Dug | Trench, road cut, utilities being moved |
| 3 Structure rising | Piers, girders, culvert boxes |
| 4 Finishing | Surface laid, markings missing |
| 5 Open | Barricades gone, speeds back to normal |
| 6 Stalled | No change on two visits 30+ days apart |
| 7 Left half-done | Stalled 6+ months, or closed on paper unfinished |
The info button on each work
- Official, with link: what is being built, the agency and contractor, sanctioned value, start and promised finish.
- Measured, dated: current stage, lanes lost, detour created, safety notes (unlit barricades, open trench edges, no diversion sign).
- Estimates, as ranges with the method: percent complete, delay against the promised date, daily cost to people while it lasts, and cost to people so far.
- Also tracked: work type, the same stretch dug again within a year of resurfacing, whether the patch was left level, a missing works board, footpath lost, work at peak hours, open trenches before the monsoon.
Parking pushed onto the road designed
A commercial building is approved on condition that it provides its own parking. When that parking is missing, converted to shops or storage, or charged for, the cars go onto the public road, and everyone else pays: fewer lanes, slower traffic, walkers pushed into the carriageway.
What the rules say, and what it costs
| What the rules say (to verify against the texts before each release) | Source |
|---|---|
| Commercial buildings must provide off-street parking to a set standard; a cellar is for parking only. | Building Rules 2012, G.O. Ms. 168 |
| Establishments must meet their staff and visitors' parking from their own space; parking fees are regulated. | G.O. Ms. 63 (2018). A later change was decided by the High Court in Mar 2026; read before citing. |
| The High Court has directed that visitor parking be provided and that cellars converted to other uses be cleared. | High Court of Telangana orders |
What it costs: Indian field studies find parked vehicles and other side friction cut the capacity of urban roads, by about a third at the worst levels in one Varanasi study. At signalised junctions in Hyderabad and other cities, encroaching vehicles cut how many vehicles get through each green.
Measured by stretch, never by shop: "commercial frontage, 120 m, about 40% of the left lane lost 6–10 pm". A building is named only when an official notice, court order or sanction document states the violation, and that document is cited.
Rough surface first findings
Details
Passes at 15:46, 16:16 and 21:01 on 1 Nov 2026. Daylight photos show heavy truck traffic and broken road edges, no clear pothole close-up. The phone was handheld that day, which inflates jolt counts, so only places repeated on separate passes are reported. Next: a pass with the phone mounted.
Sudden-stop hotspots first findings
Details
Above 5 m/s² on 31 Oct at 20:25 and 1 Nov at 15:55 and 16:20, measured from GPS, so phone handling does not affect it. A night photo shows a dark stretch and no visible cause. A hotspot describes the place, never a driver or vehicle.
Headlight glare designed
An oncoming high beam blinds the person facing it, and the eye takes time to recover. The evidence.
How it will be measured
Night photos and the phone's light sensor flag glare events, aggregate and as candidates, with street lighting and median screens recorded beside them. arcroad never claims glare caused a number of crashes, because the official data does not link them.
Pedestrians pushed out measuring
Footpaths blocked by works, parking or vendors push walkers into the carriageway.
Fixed obstructions designed
Anything permanent in the road, recorded by what it does ("narrows 3 lanes to 2"), never by what it is or who owns it.
Details
Covers structures, transformers, poles, kiosks and trees. Where the law applies, the record cites the official order and the office responsible. Trees are never recorded with a suggestion to cut them.
Rules for all of these
- Every item carries its source, the date seen, the number of passes and the method version.
- Official data wins on facts; measurement wins on what is there today. Where they disagree, both are shown with their dates.
- No faces, plates or identifiable vehicles. Photos are blurred before anything is published; raw photos stay private.
- Estimates are ranges, labelled, with the method linked. No accusation against a named party without an official finding.