But how fast can you get to the airport from different parts of the City? Is the connectivity as good as the airport project itself?

Metrolife did a reality check one afternoon and here’s what we found...
If taken from the heart of the City, say General Post Office (GPO), the distance to the international airport is 32 kilometres. Take Hebbal flyover to touch NH 7 from where it would be a smooth drive to the destination.

 This should take about an hour and a half, maybe less, if you are lucky but we recommended you start two hours earlier. For one, traffic in Bangalore is unpredictable. Two, this route has pockets where people who want to raise their voice against issues, prefer to stage a dharna or carry out procession. So if you’re unlucky you may be stuck in a traffic jam with no time on hand to get to the airport!

Jayanagar is yet another central point and keeping the BDA Complex at 4th Block (Puttanna theatre) as the starting point, this reporter travelled through the southern and western side of Bangalore covering a distance of 54 kilometres and over 10 localities — Basavanagudi, K R Road, Chamarajpet, Mysore Road, Rajajinagar, West of Chord Road, RPC Layout, Vijayanagar, Dr Rajkumar Road, past Navrang, Agrahara Dasarahalli on Magadi Road, Yeshwantpur through M S Ramaiah Nagar and BEL, then on to Hebbal Ring Road and finally NH -7.

Both these routes have some 18 or more traffic junctions that will take anywhere between 60 to 120 seconds per junction. Travel time to NH-7 itself is over two hours and that includes the numerous bottlenecks and a few bumpy stretches such as Royan Circle in Chamarajpet and Mysore Road along with slow moving traffic at Vijaynagar Toll Gate junction. Don’t forget the mixed traffic — two-wheelers, four-wheelers, six-wheelers, cyclists, animal drawn carts — all these add to the overall time.

On the eastern side of the City the Outer Ring Road (ORR) will be the most frequented route for those living in Koramangala, Indiranagar and surrounding areas. Driving on the ORR, on to Marathahalli bridge towards Krishnarajapuram Railway Station, take the flyover to reach Ramamurthy Nagar and Banaswadi, then join the Hebbal Ring Road and finally, NH-7. The ring roads, with few traffic junctions, may reduce travel time but if your travel (either towards the international airport or back) coincides with the high density truck and lorry traffic on these roads, expect a long drive ahead.

The K R Puram flyover is yet another junction where the traffic can be expected to move slow. The entire distance can be covered in about two hours, but again, it is advisable to start much earlier.

Once you are on NH-7 — at a speed of 80 km/hr — it will take about 30 minutes to reach the trumpet loop exclusively designed for the international airport. At any point of time and from any direction, you will need a minimum of one-and-a-half to two hours. If things don’t improve, you might find yourself planning a road trip for domestic travel within 500 km radius from Bangalore. Imagine, you are travelling to a place like Chennai, you’d spend two hours getting to the international airport. Then add the mandatory one hour time gap from check-in to boarding your flight, then add your flight time, about an hour and then an hour more to reach your destination after landing. That’s easily four to four-and-a-half hours and you can reach Chennai from Bangalore in a little over five hours!

So start early and gear up for the drive ahead. Or get the powers-that-be to act on this and put in place infrastructure that’s truly international.