No second, emergency exit points from KIA

An alternative entry point into the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) could potentially offer an escape route from the heavily tolled airport road.

But there is a far more critical need for a second access point: A quick getaway from a gridlocked tolled road or a speedy exit from the airport facing an emergency. Unlike leading airports across the world, KIA seriously lacks this opening.

KIA has enough land and potential to put in place alternative access points bypassing the existing trumpet flyover route.

If one option is asphalting the mud road beyond the Water Booster road to the left of the current access route, an underground route is another much desirable alternative, a well informed airport source told Deccan Herald.

Motorable road

The airport management, it is learnt, had shown keen interest earlier to upgrade the road running left from the first roundabout within the KIA boundary.

If asphalted and made motorable, this could have been eventually linked to the highway heading towards Hyderabad.

According to airport sources, it had also been decided to spend about Rs 2.5 crore on this infrastructure upgrade before the matter was dropped.

Larsen & Toubro had reportedly used this road extensively during the airport’s construction phase.

“This route could have been easily developed. Even if this road does lead motorists back to the toll-gate en route to the city, at least it could’ve functioned as an emergency exit.

Imagine a scenario where thousands are trapped inside the airport, and there is a traffic pileup due to an accident on the existing route,” noted a source associated with the airport for years.

Underground tunnel

To avoid the airport road altogether, an entry near the aerospace SEZ could be an option. But this could run into problems since the second runway is proposed towards the Southern side.

The alternative is an underground tunnel running under the runway and other future developments, surfacing near the terminal.

The tunnel could incorporate road and rail links to the SEZ and beyond to the City proper. A fairly developed link road already connects the SEZ to the KIA wall at this point.

A Namma Metro link to the airport could also pass through this tunnel, a distinct advantage since KIA’s Terminal-2 is expected to create space for a station there.


Many airports worldwide have already perfected this underground access concept.  
The airport management’s fear of losing land had reportedly grounded another road proposal.

This was to run an access route along the KIA boundary from the SEZ side and link it to the existing road from the trumpet flyover leading to the terminal.

However, this required 20-meters of land running for four kilometers. This move was subsequently abandoned.