An underpass in 72 hours flat

An underpass in 72 hours flat

Afshan Yasmeen and S. Rajendran

It will be installed at the T. Chowdiah Road-Cauvery theatre intersection

Work will begin on January 16

Traffic will be diverted till completion of work

BANGALORE: In not more than 72 hours an underpass will be installed at the busy T. Chowdiah Road-Cauvery theatre intersection, and work is scheduled to commence on January 16. It will be the first of the newly contemplated underpasses that will come up in Bangalore.

Sources in the Government, who were party to a high-level meeting summoned to ease the growing motor traffic congestion along the Bellary Road (which links the international airport at Devanahalli) told The Hindu that work on the underpass would start on Wednesday and end latest by Friday.

During the course of the installation, movement of motor vehicles between Bhashyam Circle and Cauvery junction will be diverted via Palace Guttahalli.

The underpass will link Bhashyam Circle with T. Chowdiah Road (Sankey Road), thus facilitating a free right turn from Sadashivanagar to Sankey Road.

With this, motor vehicles going towards Mekhri Circle and vice-versa will have a free passage.

Motor vehicles proceeding from Cauvery intersection to Mekhri Circle will have to take a left turn at Cauvery junction, proceed nearly 60 metres and take a “U” turn and then proceed towards Mekhri Circle.

This has been necessitated as there are seven huge water supply lines of the BWSSB passing beneath the intersection, an elevated rail link is to pass on the median and a rocky terrain exists four metres below the surface. Vehicles proceeding from Mekhri Circle to Bhashyam Circle will have to cover an additional 100 metres (from the present intersection) and take a “U” turn near the tuberculosis institute.

Commissioner of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike S. Subramanya, who stuck to the novel idea of installing the pre-cast underpasses as a way to hasten the pace of construction, told The Hindu that as per a study carried out sometime ago it would take nearly three hours to cover the distance from Electronics City to the international airport and nearly 90 minutes from the Vidhana Soudha to the airport.

With the widening of the Bellary Road up to the junction with the Hebbal flyover and with the completion of seven underpasses all along this stretch of road, the time taken to cover the distance between central Bangalore and the international airport would be brought down considerably, he added.

Service roads are being developed to divert traffic and ensure minimum inconvenience to motorists. “Near Balabrooie, the road has to be completely excavated with water lines running densely underneath. At no point will the road be closed and by March, the stretch between Balabrooie and Hebbal flyover will be signal-free,” BBMP Chief Engineer Krishna Reddy said.

The facility at BDA junction will have two “up and down ramps” on the Hebbal main road.

Two box underpasses will allow vehicles from Bangalore Palace towards Malleswaram, and vehicles from Cauvery junction can take a right turn towards Malleswaram.

At CBI and Sanjaynagar junctions, underpasses will come up in the middle of the road below the surface level.