JOIN USChennai-B'lore expressway moves forward
The NHAI, the nodal agency to build national highways, has given the task of conducting the feasibility study-cum-preliminary design to Egis-Secon. The report is likely to be complete by March 2011.
After getting the report, the NHAI will seek clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests as in some places the proposed road passes through forests. The government expected to complete all these process and plans to kickstart the project to by the end of 2011, NHAI Chairman Brijeshwar Singh told Deccan Herald.
The expressway will reduce the distance between the two cities by 86 km, from 344 km to 258 km, and drivers could hope to step up their accelerator to up to 120 km/hour without being bothered about potholes on the way to slow them down.
Currently at the blue-print stage, the expressway, to be built with public-private participation on built-operate-transfer basis, will be 100 per cent access-controlled. The road will be constructed at a cost of up to Rs 18 crore to Rs 20 crore per km. The State government will actively participate in the project as it also involves land acquisition.
The road will run parallel to the existing National Highway–4, connecting the two cities, and pass through Kolar, Palamaner, Chittur and Ranipet. It will start near Hoskote from Bangalore side. It will cover 74 km in Karnataka, 90 km in Andhra Pradesh and 94 km in Tamil Nadu.
This project is part of the ministry’s plan to build 1,087 km of expressway in four identified stretches. The other expressway stretches the ministry is looking at are the 66-km Delhi-Meerut, the 400-km Vadodara-Mumbai and the 277-km Kolkata-Dhanbad. To expedite the expressways project, the Ministry is in the process of constituting an Expressway Authority.