5 months ago
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While the Bengaluru civic authorization is dreaming of gathering a 16.7-km passageway road, the 300-metre Wind Tunnel underpass connected HAL Airport Road, planned 11 years ago, has not seen adjacent 1 percent of enactment connected the ground.
The Central City Corporation is keen connected reviving and completing the Wind Tunnel Junction underpass. However, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has been rejecting support to transportation retired works connected the road, citing that it would paralyse astatine slightest 5 of the 10 astir notorious postulation stretches successful Bengaluru.
Project history
In 2014, the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issued a enactment bid to RNS Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. to redevelop the 16.5-km agelong of HAL Airport Road betwixt ASC Junction and Hope Farm Junction astatine a outgo of ₹135.25 crore.
The task was planned to guarantee a creaseless commute for travellers and cater to the increasing fig of vehicles accessing the stretch. As portion of the plan, the roadworthy was to beryllium made signal-free, which required underpasses astatine Kundalahalli Junction, Suranjan Das Junction, and Wind Tunnel Junction. After repeated extensions of deadlines for the Kundalahalli and Suranjan Das underpasses, the civic assemblage opened them successful 2022 and 2023, respectively. However, the past of the 3 underpasses remains stalled.
Why is it important?
HAL Airport Road is simply a important nexus connecting Central and East Bengaluru. The alternate way is Old Madras Road. However, owed to unprecedented improvement successful the eastbound outskirts, conveyance numbers person accrued dramatically station 2015, according to the Traffic Police.
“We sometimes spot highest hours extending for 1 hr successful some mornings and evenings connected HAL Airport Road and Old Madras Road. If we adjacent close a tiny agelong of immoderate of these roads, particularly HAL Road, which houses galore hospitals and connects to the Outer Ring Road, adjacent the bylanes volition beryllium paralysed,” said a elder constabulary serviceman from the eastbound division.
According to documents accessed by The Hindu, the civic assemblage has requested the BTP 7 times successful the past 4 years to let closure of the agelong for construction. Each petition was denied, arsenic determination is nary suitable alternate route.
According to the BTP, adjacent partial closure of the agelong would choke Indiranagar 100 Feet Road, 80 Feet Road, Suranjan Das Road, and Old Madras Road. All these roads witnesser slow-moving postulation during highest hours. Except for Suranjan Das Road, the remaining stretches besides person postulation signals, which would further dilatory movement. The main reason, the BTP said, is that residents of Central and southeastern Bengaluru would beryllium near with nary alternate routes and would beryllium forced to usage these roads.
Despite these hurdles, the civic assemblage and the BTP explored an alternate successful the signifier of a roadworthy located wrong a backstage spot betwixt southeastern and eastbound Bengaluru, owned by a well-known governmental figure. However, the people’s typical reportedly refused to let postulation done the property.
New plan
An authoritative from the Central City Corporation told The Hindu that determination is simply a roadworthy wrong the NAL and ISRO campuses, which are adjoining and tally parallel to the 300-metre agelong wherever the underpass is proposed. However, the agelong is precise adjacent to an ISRO owned operation which is considered “sensitive”.
Now, the civic assemblage has outlined 1 much program wherever the agelong wrong NAL volition beryllium connected to different roadworthy wrong ISRO campus, which volition instrumentality a agelong deroute earlier connecting to the HAL Airport Road again. “We person held respective rounds of meetings with them and person pinned each our hopes connected their decision,” the authoritative said.
The Hindu has learnt that the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner volition besides clasp a associated inspection with ISRO and NAL officials and enactment distant the proposal.
The civic assemblage has already completed 40% of the task successful presumption of casting work. To proceed further, the officials request to excavate the land, spot the castings spanning 50 metres, and past physique up and down ramps totalling 250 metres.
If the BTP agrees to a afloat closure of the stretch, the enactment tin beryllium completed successful 90 days. If lone partial closure is permitted, the task whitethorn instrumentality up to 195 days to complete, the civic officials said.
However, uncertainty continues to loom implicit the task arsenic the BTP volition garbage to licence operation until the civic assemblage identifies a viable alternate route. Among the disposable options, nary has worked retired truthful far.
(This is the 5th successful a multi-part series)
