BBMP’S MAGIC BOX UNDERPASSES

BBMP’S MAGIC BOX UNDERPASSES
Not so magical
Work on the nine magic box underpasses planned by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to ease traffic to and from the Bengaluru International Airport is on. Originally, the underpasses were scheduled to be completed by April-end this year. BBMP cited a host of problems, including delayed utility-shifting as reasons for the delay.
Of nine underpasses, three — at Cauvery junction, BDA junction and Anandnagar junction — are open to traffic, while work is under way on the rest.
While the underpasses at the Cunningham Road-Sankey Road Cross and Sanjaynagar-CBI junction are nearing completion, work on the Windsor Manor Junction underpass is yet to start. BBMP chief engineer (major roads) Krishna Reddy said the overall delay was marginal considering the volume of work. Factors like rise in prices of construction material have also been a hurdle for timely completion.
The magic box experiment spurred the BBMP on to take up more projects under the model, including around 40 proposed underpasses. BBMP is also working on proposals for more conventional underpasses and grade separators.