Work on a full-fledged alternative road to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has now reached a decisive stage. The design for the 1,200-metre stretch of the road inside the airport boundary is now ready.

Aesthetically and architecturally synced to the rest of the KIA infrastructure, the road called South West Road (SWR) will have two stretches, one six-lane and another eight-lane.

Starting from the airport's perimeter wall near Begur village, the six-lane SWR will curve slightly to the left at its junction with a perpendicular road leading towards the second runway. From this junction, the SWR will be eight lanes, leading to the Mantri Junction.

At Mantri Junction, vehicles on the SWR will turn right to join the traffic moving towards the terminal buildings.

The six-lane stretch of SWR will feature a 11-metre carriageway on either side of the 2-metre median. Each of the two carriageways on the eight-lane stretch will be 14.5-metres wide. The median too will be wider at 4-metres. The remaining part of the alternative road beyond the KIA boundary is being constructed by the State Public Works Department (PWD).

Although Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had set a March 2017 deadline for the road, airport-bound commuters are unlikely to get a fully finished alternative route before July. The alternative route branches out from Outer Ring Road through Hennur Cross Road, Thanisandra Main Road and meets at Bagalur. It then turns left to reach Begur village before turning right and joining the SWR through an opening at the South Western corner of the airport's perimeter wall.

To decongest the existing tolled Airport Road during the Aero-India 2017 airshow, the city traffic police had allowed vehicles to take the alternative route linked through a mud road to KIA. However, since the untarred stretch of this road had no lighting, traffic was blocked after 6 pm.

Design ready for South West Road inside KIA