Elevated roads hanging fire

Elevated roads hanging fire

Deepika Arwind

The project on Hosur Road has seen slow progress

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

A ROAD IN THE AIR: The elevated highway under construction on Hosur Road in Bangalore.

Bangalore: Two of the city’s ambitious elevated highway projects are under way. The elevated highways, one on Hosur Road and the other on Tumkur Road, are intended to solve traffic bottlenecks while entering the city. While the plans for both were proposed in 2005 and 2006, the status of their progress so far is debatable.

On Hosur Road, the situation is chaotic, despite its widening and three-lane to four-lane traffic inches on for hours.

Close to three years later, in June this year, Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K.H. Muniyappa said the work would be delayed by another six months because the heavy traffic on the road came in the way of the construction activity. The deadline now has been pushed to March 2009, eight months behind schedule.

“We have overcome most of the problems as far as the Hosur Road elevated highway is concerned,” said Manoj Kumar, Project Director, National Highways Authority of India, who said the only obstacle remaining was the Bommanahalli temple. “We are working with the State Government to solve the problem,” he added. The NHAI estimates that the project is 82 per cent complete. The Rs. 450-crore elevated highway project, on a build-transfer-operate (BOT) basis, will connect the choked route joining the Silk Board and Electronics City for 9 km. The 14-lane highway (including elevated stretch) is divided into a main six-lane carriageway flanked by three-lane roads, which in turn will have two service roads.
Tumkur Road

The Tumkur Road project, started in January this year, has had a faster story. At a cost of Rs. 40 crore a km, the four-km highway will turn into a six-lane elevated highway from Jalahalli Cross to Nelamangala Cross on National Highway 4. Mr. Kumar said the work here was going on briskly. “We have done most of the ground level work. The service roads and drain work is getting done,” he says. The foundation has been laid and the pillar work will begin.

“In the next week, our first pillar will be ready,” he said and added that 35 per cent of the piling work for the highway had been completed. The project is due to be completed in November 2009. “We will try and recoup any delays,” he said.