EQUALS 100-STOREY BUILDING

EQUALS 100-STOREY BUILDING
The Elevated Expressway to Electronics City, which opens today, equals the weight of 54,000 African elephants. The cement used for it could build a 100-storey building
SRIDHAR VIVAN


The Elevated Expressway to Electronics City, a mega-infrastructure marvel to be formally inaugurated in Bangalore on Friday, weighs as much as 54,000 African elephants!
The 9.5 km expressway, which was conceived to ease congestion in the tech corridor, has consumed a whopping 2,69,700 metric tons of cement — a quantity that would suffice to construct a 100-storey building.
The expressway starts from the Central Silk Board junction and culminates at Electronics City; and it promises a threefold reduction in travel time for techies who, hitherto, had no other option than to jostle for space on a daily basis while driving to workplace or back home. Earlier, techies used to take 40 minutes to travel to Electronics City; the expressway reduces it to 10 minutes.
STARTED IN JULY, 2006
Construction of the Rs 776 crore project started in July 2006 and it was scheduled to be completed in July 2008, but was delayed because of various reasons including escalation in cement and steel prices.
To be inaugurated by Union minister for surface transport Kamalnath, the longest expressway in the state has occupied the centrestage of all discussions in techie circles. In fact, the expressway has consumed more cement than that of Mumbai’s Bandra-Worli Sea Link (90,000 metric tons). The amount of steel that has gone into the making of the expressway is a whopping 29,500 metric tons. Officials who worked on the project told Bangalore Mirror: “The quality of steel used has been of a very high grade. In fact, we have used Tmt, a thermo-mechanically treated steel with superior properties such as weldability and extra strength, for the project.”
To ensure that the expressway lasts long, a total of 2,750 metric tons of ht strand coil (wire) has been used. The coils have been used to ensure quick construction and to avoid cracks by giving post-tensioning to the concrete, officials said.
In all, it took 1,277 working days to complete the project.
Conditional
inauguration
With the poll code in force for
the BBMP elections, the State
Election Commission lays down
conditions for the opening of
Elevated Expressway
BANGALORE MIRROR BUREAU
The State Election Commission has given conditional clearance for the inauguration of the 9.5 km Electronic City elevated expressway. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had sought the permission of Commission following the code of elections for Bruhath Bangalore Mahangara Palike elections.
In its reply to the request the Commission has given a go ahead to the inauguration by dictating the following conditions: 1. The inauguration should not be done within the limits of BBMP and BDA. 2. Cutouts, banners of political parities and leaders should not be erected or displayed anywhere on the elevated express highway. 3. The invited ministers or elected representatives should refrain from making political speeches. 4. Ministers of central and state governments should not announce any promises for the city. 5. Advertisements of the inauguration should not be published or telecast in the media.
D K Ravindranath, secretary of State Election Commission, told Bangalore Mirror, the NHAI had sought permission 15 days ago. “After verifying their request we have given conditional clearance for the inauguration of the elevated expressway. If leaders of the parties violate the instructions they will invite legal actions.” The expressway will be inaugurated at 3 pm today.