Roads to new airport to be ready soon

Roads to new airport to be ready soon

Special Correspondent

Work to be over before airport becomes operational in May

90 per cent of work has already been completed

Work on high-speed rail link to begin in December

BANGALORE: The State Government on Tuesday gave an assurance that work on the six major roads connecting different parts of Bangalore to upcoming international airport at Devanahalli would be completed before the airport, became operational.

V.P. Baligar, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Department, told presspersons here that 90 per cent of work the roads had been completed. “Traffic flow to the new airport will be very smooth, and it will be better compared to the drive to the present HAL airport,” he said.

The six roads leading to the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli are: Bangalore-BIA via Bagalur; Yelahanka-Doddaballapur via Aradeshanahalli and Sadapanahalli; NH 4 (near Hoskote) to BIA via Budigere; NH 7-BIA via Doddajala; NH 207 to BIA via Battakote; and NH 7 to BIA via Bhuvanahalli. The National Highway between Hebbal and Devanahalli will be converted into six lanes to ensure free flow of traffic. After completion of all roadworks, it would take just 45 minutes to reach the airport from the Vidhana Soudha, Mr. Baligar said.

Mr. Baligar said the Public Works Department (PWD) had taken up 46 road repair works (1,000 km), and nearly 50 per cent of the work had been completed. The PWD was also working on 1,255 bridges and cross drainages in Bangalore and work on 621 of them had been completed. All the works were scheduled to be completed by March next year.
Rail link

On the commencement of work on the proposed high-speed rail link between Bangalore and the international airport at Devanahalli, he said it would begin in December-end. The work was delayed as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has forced a change in alignment for the second time.

The NHAI had asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which will be implementing the project, to shift the alignment to the right side of NH 7. After the DMRC prepared a detailed project report with the alignment on the left side of the highway, the NHAI had come out with a plan to construct an elevated highway between the Hebbal flyover and Yelahanka-Kogilu Junction.