A smooth road to Mysore

A smooth road to Mysore
Two Lanes Of Existing Highway Will Be Open In 30 Days
Times of India


Bangalore: Thirty days from now, travellers from Bangalore to Mysore will be able to drive on safe, newlylaid road: Two widened lanes of the existing state highway will be opened to traffic.

Even as the private Rs 2,000 crore Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project is caught in snarls of politicking and red-tape, the state government’s Rs 330 crore fourlaning of the state highway is merrily progressing. In fact, at the present pace, the entire four-laning is expected to get done by June 2005, a full six months ahead of schedule.

The only hitch to the project, so far, has been the natural one: Rain. “We planned to start laying tar — wet mix macadem — by this month. As soon as the rain stops, we will take it up and work 24/7 to meet the deadline,’’ Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) managing director M.R. Kamble told The Times of India.

Asphalting has already been completed over 63 km of the total 141 km state highway in different patches on both the Bangalore-Maddur and the Maddur-Mysore stretches. But each
day of rain causes three days of delay, as moisture in the soil will translate into cracks in the asphalt.

The sheer pace of the project, however, is expected to make up for the delay: The modern equipment being used, that has been kept on standby all along the road-route will ensure that a mere fortnight after rain stops, two lanes will be ready, complete with three layers of tar.
The KRDCL has now given a scheduled date of mid-October to open two freshly-laid lanes all the way from Bangalore to Mysore, in the expectation that the rains will peter out end-September. Once the newly laid lanes are open, the existing road will be shut to traffic, the top layer scraped off and fresh wet mix macadem laid, leading to opening of the entire four lane road by June.

The road has also been designed to be much safer than the present one: With 130 curves, accidents on the road are legion. “But once we have completed the road, people can drive at 100 kmph even around the curves. We have put in super-elevation at the curves, as is done in foreign countries,’’ Kamble explained.

THE WAY AHEAD

The entire four-laning is expected to get done by June 2005, a full six months ahead of schedule Asphalting has already been completed over 63 km of the total 141 km state highway in different patches. The road has also been designed to be much safer than the present one: With 130 curves, accidents are legion. Once the newly laid lanes are open, the existing road will be shut to traffic and the top layer will be scraped off and fresh wet mix macadam laid.