It’s NICE, say B’loreans

It’s NICE, say B’loreans
Deccan Herald

A day after its inauguration by local villagers, the 9-km peripheral ring road of the BMIC was taken over by the fast and the furious, on Saturday. ....

A day after its inauguration by local villagers, the 9-km peripheral ring road of the BMIC was taken over by the fast and the furious, on Saturday. Weekend outing for several Bangaloreans meant a joyride in swanky cars and jazzy bikes on this stretch of the road.

Even though tarring work was in progress on a few stretches of the new road, it did not detract the curious from visiting the road, that has been mired in controversy for over a decade.

Photo-op

A few brought out their camera phones and digicams to take pictures of the infrastructure project.

According to the policemen stationed under the clove-leaf interchange near Banashankari VI Stage, people have been using the stretch as a short-cut or have come for a tour. “There are not too many vehicles on this road today, mainly because many are unaware of this road. We are expecting a lot more traffic in the coming days”, they said. The battalion will be stationed on the inaugurated stretch till Monday.

Jayanagar resident Raghavendra expressed his pleasure on finally finding a stretch where he can cruise his Honda City in top gear.

“At last I am riding over a road that has no potholes. It has been a great ride, and I am glad that there are not too many vehicles around,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jayesh and his college friend came to find out “what the fuss is all about”.

“The fight between Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise and the Government regarding BMIC has been hogging headlines for the last few days. We were curious to see this stretch. It is a good road network, and if it gets completed, it could solve several of Bangalore’s infrastructure wo-es,” Jayesh said.

A toll booth has already been erected at the Kengeri end of the ring road, but NICE Managing Director Ashok Kheny has said that toll would not be introduced till the entire 41-km peripheral ring road is inaugurated.

Toll charges are likely to be 50 paise/km for two-wheelers, Rs 1/km for four-wheelers and Rs 2/km for heavy vehicles.

The time taken using this road stretch between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road is expected to be reduced from 75 minutes for 23 km on the existing road, to 10 minutes on the 9-km BMIC stretch.