Roads connecting Bangalore East being developed

Roads connecting Bangalore East being developed
Flyovers, road widening works, and phase one of the PRR will increase connectivity in the eastern parts of the city.
Sai Prasanna
reports


East Bangalore is slowly picking up on the development scale with the provisions of the comprehensive development plan - Master Plan 2015 - to promote balanced development. This has thrown open the area to increased and better connectivity, widening of roads, flyovers, and other projects to commute easily within the area and to the city.
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will construct two flyovers at the Agara and Iblur junctions on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) at a cost of Rs 57 crores. This will ensure that heavy motor vehicles will ply only over the flyover, with the light traffic using the road below to reduce the chances of accidents. The flyover at Agara will be about 500 metres and the one at Iblur, about 350 metres. The design speed will adhere to IRC (Indian Road Congress) standards. Right now, the tendering process is on.
A Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) of about 110-km has been proposed to skirt the Outer Ring Road (ORR) at a distance between 2.8 km to 11.50 km. The project is to be developed by the BDA. The PRR will be a bi-directional carriageway with six lanes, three on either side. Land acquisition for this project is set at about 2,050 acres.
Phase I of the project to the international airport, covering 65 km, from Tumkur Road to Hosur Road via Bellary Road, Old Madras Road, Varthur Road and Sarjapur Road, was recently handed over to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The proposal for this phase of the PRR given by the BDA is to make it an eight-lane carriageway with a two-lane service road on both sides. There will also be a separate lane for BMTC on both sides for buses to operate. Land will be specially provided for utilities so that there will not be any need for shifting the lines in case any digging is required in future.
Phase II will cover 51 km from Hosur Road to Tumkur Road via Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road, and Magadi Road.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will take up road widening works in Bangalore east on Hosur Road, Hosur Laskar Road, Airport Road, Jayamahal Road, and Kasturba Road. As of now, the preliminary work like the cutting of trees and shifting of utilities like water lines, electricity lines and phone lines, is taking place on Hosur Road and Hosur Laskar Road. Work will begin once the Government gives its approval for land acquisition.
Hosur Road, Hosur Laskar Road, Airport Road, and Jayamahal Road will each be widened and made 100 feet roads while Kasturba Road will be widened to become an 80 feet road. The estimated cost for this work comes to Rs 30 crores. In future, there is a plan to widen 15 more roads. Also, the BBMP is undertaking asphalting works on Karnataka Municipal Reform Project (KMRP) roads with assistance from the World Bank, IT-BT roads, and seven arterial roads. This will involve filling the potholes first after which asphalting work, improvement of footpaths and drains will take place.
More than 85 percent of the asphalting works on St Marks Road - from Cash Pharmacy to Oriental Circle, Kasturba Road - from Hudson Circle to Cubbon Road, Residency Road - from Blood Bank Circle to Mayo Hall, Richmond Road - from Richmond Circle to Trinity Circle, and Byappanahalli Road has been completed. Banasvadi Road - from IOC Gate to NH via Ramamurthy Nagar, Hennur Main Road - from Lingarajapuram to Hennur Bande via Outer Ring Road, RT Nagar Main Road - from Jayamahal to Bellary Road, and Chinmaya Mission Hospital road will be taken up at a cost of Rs 20.38 crores. The roads not completed till March end will be finished in the coming year.
The Public Works Department (PWD) has taken up road works in the east. The road from Kundalahalli cross to Kadugudi has already been developed based on public-private partnership (PPP). The road-over-bridge (ROB) at the Whitefield railway level cross is being developed by the railways. Recently, the PWD received a sanction for developing the service road.