BDA finalises Peripheral Ring Road project

BDA finalises Peripheral Ring Road project
The Times of India

Bangalore: Nearly a decade after the project was blueprinted, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has frozen the final alignment of the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) and will bring it up before the cabinet for its approval.

The PRR, which was in conflict with the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), was reviewed to change the alignment so that it does not scythe through Mysore Road. Of the 109-km PRR, 41-km stretch between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road was cutting into the BMIC project. The revised project steers clear of the BMIC stretch.

Mooted at a cost of Rs 550 crore, which includes land acquisition, PRR will be located approximately between 2.8 km and 11.5 km away from the existing Outer Ring Road and about 14-22 km off the city hub. Except bits in conurbation area (an extended urban area, especially one consisting of several towns and merging suburbs), the alignment runs in the green belt — predominantly in cropland and less in agriculture plantation and commercial plantation.

The two-carriageway, six-lane, 60-metrewide PRR will have a buffer zone running parallel to the carriageway. It will have 12 major roads, six railway lines, three water supply lines, 48 major and 20 minor drainages.

Though the comprehensive development plan (CDP) of 1995 has shown 80 km of PRR alignment, the ground realities were different. As per satellite images obtained by the BDA, some 45 per cent of the old alignment runs into built-up areas and, at some places, it was less than a kilometre from the existing ring road. With the city’s growth, the alignment suggested by the CDP was found outdated. The BDA has to acquire 2,049-acre land at Rs 8 lakh apiece and spend Rs 2.9 crore per km of PRR.

While fixing the alignment, the BDA has ensured it passes only through open spaces and not builtup area. Consequently, it is away from the city and the vehicular congestion on the ring road gets shifted to the PRR.

FORTY-YEAR ITCH

The existing Outer Ring Road was conceived in 1964 and took nearly four decades to get concretised. The ORR was implemented in three phases: Between Hosur Road and Mysore Road (12.5 km) in 1994; between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road (37 km) in 2000; between Tumkur Road and Mysore Road (16 km) in 2002.