After 8 years, Srirampuram underpass to open for public

The railway underpass at Srirampuram, a long-pending project, will be thrown open to the public in three months.

Five bidders have been shortlisted to provide drainage and approach roads at the underpass which would facilitate two-way traffic from Mantri Square on Sampige Road towards Srirampuram, Gayatrinagar, Rajajinagar and Yeshwantpur. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is finalising the financial evaluation for the project. The tender would be awarded to the lowest bidder as soon as the financial evaluation concludes, said sources in the BBMP.

“The BBMP hopes to begin road work at the underpass in a couple of weeks. It will take about three months to complete the concrete road and drainage,” an engineer involved in the project told Deccan Herald.

The narrow underpass at Srirampuram entrance is a traffic bottleneck and the BBMP had planned a second underpass close to the existing one to ensure two-way traffic to ease congestion. However, locals are fed up with the delays in the project.

The project that began eight years ago, hit rough weather due to financial and land encroachment issues involving the BBMP, South Western Railway and Mantri Builders management.

The history
The BBMP had deposited Rs one crore with the South Western Railway to execute the project on railway land in 2007-08. SWR invited tenders, but the tender process was cancelled as a Metro rail pillar was proposed at the place identified for the underpass, said BBMP officials.

According to the initial plan, the underpass was planned to the north of the existing underpass. SWR changed its location to its south to accommodate the Metro pillar. It took three years for the Metro authorities to complete the Metro rail work on the stretch and SWR constructed the underpass after the Metro pillar came up, officials added.

Around the same time, Mantri Developers halted the project as a road was aligned on their land. After repeated consultations, Mantri agreed to lay a road for public use on their property and began the road work, added the officials.

While the new underpass will facilitate two-way traffic and ease congestion at Srirampuram entrance considerably, Malleswaram traffic police said it could lead to other traffic problems as it is in a wrong place. The traffic police would be forced to redesign traffic patterns to guide vehicles heading to Gayatrinagar, Rajajinagar, Srirampuram and Okalipuram, said the police.
DH News Service