Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway: Soon commuting between Bengaluru and Mysuru will get more convenient. The expressway connecting Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru with the city of Mysuru is expected to be fully functional by the month of September 2022. Till now, 81 per cent of the development work under Package-1 (from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta) and 72 per cent work under Package-2 (from Nidaghatta to Mysuru) has been completed, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha was quoted saying in an IE report. This highway project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is estimated to cost Rs 8,066 crore. According to Simha, development work was progressing at a brisk pace and it is likely to be finished in three months’ time ahead of the deadline set at 2022-end.
As per the highway authority’s plans, the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway will consist of six lanes for the carriageway (three lanes on each side) as well as four lanes (double laned) for service roads along the entire path. According to the MP, service roads’ development will be taken up soon once the carriageway is ready. The expressway will fuel further growth of the city of Mysuru, similar to how Pune city developed after the highway between Mumbai-Pune became operational, he added.
Once the project is completed, the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway is expected to reduce the time of travel between the two cities to around 90 minutes. Currently, it takes three hours to cover the distance. According to the plan, the stretch will include 44 minor bridges, nine major bridges, eight vehicular overpasses, 28 vehicular underpasses, 13 pedestrian underpasses, 13 light vehicle underpasses, four railway overbridges, as well as two rest areas. It is expected that the six bypasses (at Bidadi, Srirangapatna, Ramanagaram, Channapatna, Maddur, Mandya) will be over by January 2022. Of these, the bypass connecting Ramanagara-Channapatna will be the longest, covering 22.35 kilometres of distance.
A few days ago, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had tweeted mentioning that the expressway was proceeding at “record speed”. Meanwhile, officials were quoted in the report saying that the development work on the project is going in full swing ever since the effects of the Covid-19 second wave began to decline.