BBMP's plan: 155-foot-wide Bannerghatta Road in 18 months

 A  part of Bannerghatta Road, from the JD Mara junction to Koli Farm Gate, will be widened to 155 feet in 18 months. The BBMP has undertaken the project that was planned more than seven years ago. It has assigned the contract to  RK Infra (India) Private Limited.

Work is underway to widen 400 metres near the JD Mara junction, 500 metres at Royal Meenakshi Mall and 400 metres on NICE Road. Presently, the road is 80 to 90 feet wide.  

About 30% of the road belongs to the Revenue Department and other government agencies. Work has begun wherever government land is available, according to  Somashekhar, chief engineer (road infrastructure), BBMP. The remaining land will be acquired under the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) or by awarding monetary compensation to property owners. Many owners have come forward to get the TDR, he added.  

Metro work

The road-widening will help motorists  cope with the impending  construction  of  the Gottigere-Nagawara Metro line under Phase 2. From the JD Mara junction, the Metro line will run  four  kilometres until  Gottigere.  

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has acquired four metres (13 feet) of the road for the work. It will acquire private land and hand it over to the BBMP as an alternative. It will also build the road at metro sites  in JP Nagar 4th Stage, IIMB, Hulimavu and Gottigere.

"Bannerghatta Road sees heavy traffic during morning and evening peak hours. Sometimes the traffic stretches from the Jayadeva junction until Hulimavu. The road-widening will help the public. But it should be completed quickly,"  said N Nagaraj, a worker.

Manjunath, a commuter, said the Bannerghatta National Park attracted thousands of people on weekends and that widening the road was necessary.

TenderSURE model

The road will be developed under the TenderSURE model. Each side will have an 11-metre-wide main road, a 1.2-metre-wide stormwater drain, a 5.5-metre-wide service road and a 3-metre-wide footpath.  

All the utilities such as water pipelines, OFC cables, gas and sewage pipes will run under the footpath. This will avoid the digging of the  road in the future.  The drain will carry away the stormwater, reducing potholes on the road.