The Karnataka government is all set to make history with a significant addition to the state’s infrastructure. The government is planning to build a proposed 99-kilometer-long tunnel highway in Bengaluru which will also be World’s longest tunnel. The proposed project is for one of the longest tunnel networks in the world.
The elevated tunnel network will include three major corridors – First, North-South Corridor will connect Bellay with Hosur Road through Yelahanka, Hebbal, Mekhri Circle, Cantonment, Kasturba Road, and Central Silk Board.
Second, East-West Corridor, will consist of two corridors, one from Varthur Kodi to Jnanabharati and another from KR Puram to Goraguntepalya through Old Madras Road.
The tunnel project will also have three connecting corridors – One from St. John Hospital Junction to Agara Road; the second from East to West corridors 1 and 2; and the third from Wheeler’s Road Junction to Kalyannagar on Outer Ring Road.
The first phase of the project, which will be 50-kilometers-long, will link Hebbel to KR Puram and Cantonment to Silk Board at an estimated cost of Rs 22000 crore. The phase I route will cross via St Johns Road, Halasuru, Mehkri Circle, Jayamahal Road, Old Madras Road and KR Puram. The Cantonment-Silk Board will pass via BaleKundri, Double Road, Lal Bagh and Hosur Road.
According to the proposed plan, the tunnel will be bi-directional with lower and upper decks for each. Additionally, a barricaded provision will be made for two-wheelers to travel in both directions on the upper deck. The feasibility study of the Bengaluru tunnel project will be taken up soon.
The proposed tunnel project will help in the decongestion of traffic in the city. The cost for tunnelling one kilometre will be around Rs 450 crores and the project will be implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP) – which means that the government will partially subsidizing the project through a hybrid annuity model and recover the investment through tolls.