There is one airpocket though — connectivity. Acquisition of a strip of land for a portion of the main connecting road to the airport, is under litigation hampering the completion of the construction of the road. Well, if the issue hangs fire and road remains incomplete by the D-day, accessing the airport is sure to be one turbulent affair.
Else, all arrangements are being put in place to provide exclusive connectivity to the international airport. The existing Bellary Road (NH-7), from Bangalore to Devanahalli and beyond, is being converted into a six-lane. Work is progressing at a rapid pace on this expressway in stretches. The National Highway Authority has acquired the required land for access roads, running into Bellary Road.

“On the road linking the airport to the Bellary Road there will be three overbridges, one of them a trumpet interchange. A portion of the land acquired for the trumpet interchange is under litigation. This is the only thing that is holding back the completion of the trumpet interchange. But the single judge bench order of the Karnataka High Court has gone in favour of the government but the land owner has filed an appeal against the order of the single judge,” Principal Secretary to Government of Karnataka and a member of the BIAL board, V P Baligar told Metrolife.

Contingency plan
The government, however, has a contingency plan ready as the incomplete main road to the airport will increase the travel time to reach it. “The government has about 408 acres of land on the Northern side of the airport. A two-lane access road to the airport passes through this 408 acre of land. The state highways have been readied on the eastern side of the airport. The access from Whitefield, Devanahalli and Northern side of the airport will be a through four-lane expressway,” Baligar says.  However, unique to the infrastructural facilities for the airport is the trumpet interchange. “There's one interchange going towards the airport and another interchange coming out of the airport towards Hyderabad. This is the strip of land that’s under litigation. This stretch will provide exclusive unhindered access to the airport, there will be no toll collected on the road but there will be a parking fee at the airport. This is a coordinated effort among the National Highways Authority, Indian Railways, BIAL and Government of Karnataka," Baligar said.

Better connectivity
The government is keen on providing maximum connectivity and access to the airport. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has proposed to run 40 Volvo buses to and from the airport. These new buses will ply from different parts of the City. There will be a bus routed to the airport every five minutes from different parts of the City. The buses are to cost Rs 31 crore.

The BMTC is busy finalising the design plan of the Volvo buses for exclusive airport use. They will have large luggage space. “The frontal of the buses will be earmarked for luggage and the back for seating. The seating capacity will be 29 and there will be no standing space. The buses have been proposed for two purposes — it will transport people to the airport and will ply to some important hotels in the City,” said Managing Director BMTC, Upendra Tripathy.

The fare will be decided on a no-profit-no-loss basis and the buses are to hit the road as soon as the airport is ready, Tripathy disclosed.

Expressway
Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) has also planned a 21.2-km expressway from the Outer Ring Road to the international airport at Devanahalli at an estimated cost of Rs 482 crore. It will begin near Horamavu and end at the airport. But land acquisitions have drawn a lot of protests from people who will lose their land to the expressway and these protests continue till date.

Traffic experts however are in favour of elevated connectivity to the airport so that traffic could move uninterrupted. Prof M N Sreehari, traffic expert and chairman, traffic engineers and safety trainers, said there's also a proposal to introduce monorail and metro rail. "A metro rail from Byappanahalli to the airport and a monorail from Mehkri Circle to the airport are also in the offing.  Another good idea is to have check in and check out facilities at the Mehkri Circle itself,” said Sreehari.

Sreehari feels linking the airport by the monorail and the metro rail must be taken up alongside the construction of the airport so that the connectivity would be in place by the time the airport takes off.