Bangalore-Chennai greenfield expressway in the pipeline

Bangalore-Chennai greenfield expressway in the pipeline

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is proposing to build four greenfield expressways of 1,000 km in the country, including one connecting Bangalore and Chennai, Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K.H. Muniyappa said here on Saturday.

Mr. Muniyappa said that other three expressways are to connect Kolkata and Dhanbad, Delhi and Meerut, and Vadodara and Mumbai. The Minister said that the NHAI had appointed a private consultant to find out possible alignment for the expressway using satellite images and submit a report, which is expected by the end of this year.

The proposed expressways will be designed for travelling on high speed of 120 km an hour and it would cost approximately Rs. 15 crore to Rs. 16 crore to build one kilometre of the expressway, said NHAI Chairman N. Gokulram. However, the work on expressway could commence only by the end of 2009 or during early 2010 depending upon the feasibility study once the alignments were finalised. It would take about four to five months to conduct the feasibility study.
Elevated highway

On construction of elevated highway on Nelamangala Road, Mr. Muniyappa said that the project was expected to be completed by the end of 2009 as construction work on the elevated stretch had commenced by diverting highway traffic on newly created service road.