Hyderabad traffic speeds up to 23 kmph despite vehicle surge

Hyderabad bucks congestion trend as traffic speeds improve despite a surge in vehicles on its roads.

Hyderabad has recorded a notable improvement in average traffic speeds in 2025, even as the number of vehicles on its roads continues to rise sharply. According to the Telangana Socio Economic Outlook 2026, the city’s average travel speed increased from 20.1 kmph in 2024 to 23.4 kmph in 2025, driven by gains in traffic management and road engineering measures.

The number of vehicles in the city has more than doubled over the past decade, rising from 42.2 lakh in 2014 to 94.16 lakh by November 2025. On average, over 1,500 new vehicles are being added to Hyderabad’s roads every day, intensifying pressure on the city’s infrastructure, the report noted.

Interestingly, these figures appear more conservative than estimates cited by officials earlier. In June 2025, former Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand had noted that average speeds had already improved to around 24-25 kmph, up from 17-18 kmph the previous year, attributing the rise to sustained enforcement and traffic interventions.

A heavy traffic jam at Rasoolpura. | Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G.

The latest data, however, still points to the continuation of a fluctuating but overall upward trend. Police data from 2021 had indicated average speeds of about 25 kmph, up from 22 kmph in 2019 and 19 kmph in 2016.

Officials attribute the rise in speeds to a combination of enforcement, infrastructure upgrades and traffic regulation measures. These include restricting heavy vehicle movement during non-permitted hours, introducing ‘free left’ turns at major junctions and implementing reversible lanes in high-traffic corridors such as Rasoolpura and Retibowli.