NICE news for City-Mysore traffic

NICE news for City-Mysore traffic
The Times of India

Bangalore: The first stretch of India’s first privately owned road — the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) — will be thrown open to traffic by April-end.

After a delay of almost a year, the state government has handed over most of the bits of land needed to project company Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE). With this, work on the 9 km, tolled, elevated link road from Kanakapura road to Mysore road has reached completion, including the ambitious cloverleaf exchanged at Sompura that is the pivotal to phase I of the project.

“We can realistically open the road by the end of this month. If the government also hands over about 950 acres that we need at various stretches, we will be able to complete the rest of the first phase by July-end or the first week of August,’’ a NICE spokesperson told TOI.

The first phase comprises the 9-km link road, 41-km peripheral road, eight interchanges and 12 km of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway towards Bidadi. The first township at Bidadi that was also part of the first phase has been temporarily put on hold.

“We are clarifying all doubts raised by the PWD/KIADB by taking them to our site and showing them the need for additional land. For example, there is no entry\exit ramp from our elevated road to the ground at Bannerghatta road because we have not been given that land,’’ the spokesperson contended. “Once the missing portions of land are handed over, the road will be thrown open up to Bidadi. A ramp and road will link this road to the existing Bangalore-Mysore state highway.’’

WHAT IT HOLDS
The existing Bangalore-Mysore state highway (SH-17) is being four-laned. It is expected to be ready to take up to 40,000 passenger carrying units by June.