Rapid progress on Route 17

Rapid progress on Route 17



The four-lane State highway has reduced the travel time and is bringing in business opportunity
The Times of India




When Chief Minister H D Ku m a r a swamy dedicated the Rs 330 crore four-lane Bangalore-Mysore highway, and launched work on six-laning the Mysore-Srirangapatna stretch on September 1 last year, commuters had reason to cheer. The 140-km stretch, which had been upgraded into a four-lane highway, would now ensure a hasslefree, smooth ride for them in just two hours. The four-laning of this State Highway 17 has brought together the cities of Bangalore and Mysore like never before.
Bangalore-Mysore Road is an important State highway in the state connecting the State capital with cultural city of Mysore. Large volume of tourist traffic plies on this road. The road not only connects the State capital to the cultural capital, it also takes commuters to Ooty, Coorg and Kerala.
The work on this project was completed on June 30, 2006 itself, though the official inauguration took place in September.

Boon to industry


With the entire 140-km length now functional, there has been lot of development along the route, and also in Mysore. While a number of resorts and restaurants have sprung-up along the picturesque highway, the reduction in travel time has sparked off positive and interesting developments for Mysore.
A fast-burgeoning tier-II city, Mysore, is witnessing the arrival of many IT and BPO companies. The real estate market has spiraled, resulting in a boom in the property, especially those lands closer to the highway. Major hotel chains have started looking for land to set-up hotels to cater to the tourist flow. The retail industry too has seen unprecedented growth, owing to the shrinking of travel time between the two cities.
Various industries have benefited from this development. The hospitality industry in particular has gained much from the improvement in connectivity. "The four-lane road has improved connectivity. With the road now in place, tourists need not depend on the public transport and can use their own conveyance which will help them to go around locally too. Tourist influx has increased from 5-10 percent," says Devender Awasthi, General Manager, Hotel Royal Orchid Metropole.

Bottlenecks being cleared


Though the travel time is a little under two hours, it can be further reduced to one and a half hours, if the bypass roads in the towns of Ramanagar, Channapatna and Mandya become a reality. According to the Karnataka State Road Development Corporation, the work on the bypass road in Mandya will commence soon.
Also, the route passes through many villages and vehicles often enter the highway from the wrong direction, coming in the way of speeding motorists.

Plans


Work on upgrading the Srirangapatna-Mysore stretch of the highway into a six-lane road will commence at a cost of Rs 23 crore. It is expected to be completed in 12 months. Karnataka State Road Development Corporation has approved the project to upgrade the Mysore-Bangalore Road into a six-lane highway. The Government has identified the land required for widening the road into a six-lane highway.
According to Karnataka State Road Development Corporation Executive Engineer Shankare Gowda, the fourlane highway has been designed according to Indian Road Congress (IRC) specifications, and has been constructed, keeping in mind a speed limit of 80-100 km. However, most of the 50,000 odd vehicles that traverse on this stretch everyday, exceed this speed limit, resulting in accidents. Though the traffic police have ensured adequate highway patroling, common road sense and adherance to traffic rules and speed limits will go a long way in ensuring that the highway is used well.