Chord Road flyovers to be delayed until 2020

Construction of flyovers on Shivanagara and Basaveshwara Nagar junctions has been painfully slow, delaying the signal-free corridor on West of Chord Road.

The land disputes over the projects were settled several years ago and the delay has irked people living around the two junctions. They believe the project may not be completed in the near future.

“The monsoon season is round the corner. The civic body will shift its focus to the rain-affected areas and the flyover work will be neglected by November,” Shekar, a trader at the Shivanagara junction, told DH.

“We were hopeful that this flyover will be inaugurated along with the Manjunath Nagar flyover, but work has been slow,” Shekar added.

The civic body had planned an underpass at the junction, but it was re-designed later into a flyover following the opposition to the felling of trees. “This delayed the work,” a senior BBMP official at the spot said. Officials at the spot also said the stretch will be ready for use only by the first week of 2020.

K T Nagaraj, chief engineer, Project Central, told DH that the work on building the ramp at the Shivanagara flyover is currently going on. “The ramp will be ready soon. We’ll have to construct an approach road to the flyover adjacently in the next phase,” he said.

The civic body is proposing to build an integrated flyover at the ramp of the same flyover near the Industrial Centre and has, therefore, put the completion of the Basaveshwara Nagar flyover on hold. “We’ll start the work on the other end and commuters can expect the flyover to be ready by March next year,” Nagaraj said.

Work on the flyover began as part of the signal-free corridor between Tumakuru and Mysuru Road at the cost of Rs 128 crore, sanctioned under the Chief Minister’s Nagarothana Grants in 2016.