Travel time between Mysuru and Bengaluru by road is expected to reduce from three hours to ninety minutes by early 2022 when the work on widening the expressway is slated to be completed.
The work on the 118 km-long expressway between Columbia Asia junction in Mysuru and Panchamukhi Temple near NICE Road junction in Bengaluru began in two packages in May and December 2019. While 34 per cent physical progress has been recorded in the work on the first package between Bengaluru and Nidaghatta, the physical progress in the second package between Nidaghatta and Mysuru is 5.2 per cent. The highway when widened will comprise 10 lanes, including six-lane access controlled expressway for through traffic and a two-lane service road on either side of the expressway to segregate rural traffic.
Elevated corridor
The widened expressway will also comprise an elevated corridor of about 8 km on the outskirts of Bengaluru and six bypasses for Bidadi, Ramanagaram, Channapatna, Maddur, Mandya, and Srirangapatna with an aggregate length of 51.5 km.
Addressing a press conference here along with NHAI Superintending Engineer Sridhar, Mysuru MP Pratap Pratap Simha said the contractor for the project M/s Dilip Buildcon Ltd. has been given 30 months for completing the project. But the contractor is expected to complete the work two to four months ahead of the deadline.
“The widened expressway will be ready by January-February 2020,” said Mr. Simha. While the six-lane expressway will be a tolled road with toll plazas coming up at Kumbalgodu and near Srirangapatna, use of service roads will be free.
Two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and tractors would not be permitted on the expressway, said Mr. Sridhar.
To a question, Mr. Simha ruled out the possibility of further expanding the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway beyond the ongoing widening project.
While the highway could be further expanded, Mr. Simha said the capacity could be increased by other modes, including monorail. However, the MP favoured increasing the rail capacity to facilitate travel of more people between Mysuru and Bengaluru. Promoting travel by train would also help reduce carbon footprint, he said.
Mr. Simha said there was no proposal before the government to revive the NICE, which was envisaged more than 20 years ago.