Shiradi Ghat now fully open for traffic

With the pending works on shoulders and the retaining walls on Shiradi Ghat stretch nearing completion, deputy commissioner Sasikanth Senthil ordered opening the stretch for vehicles, including heavy ones, from Thursday.

With this, the ordeal of the road users travelling between the coastal districts and Bengaluru has ended. Though the newly concreted Shiradi Ghat road was opened on July 15, the pending works on shoulders and retaining walls forced the district administration to prohibit the movement of heavy vehicles by allowing only two-wheelers, four-wheelers and Tempo Travellers, to facilitate the work.

With Shiradi Ghat closed during the concreting work, those travelling between the coast and the hinterland, especially between Mangaluru-Bengaluru, had to take alternative routes — via Madikeri (Sampaje Ghat) or Kottigehara (Charmadi Ghat).

The work on Shiradi Ghat stretch was taken up from Heggadde of Sakleshpur to Addahole in Shiradi, covering a distance of 27 km in two phases.

The second phase of the road work commenced on January 20, 2018 after closing the stretch for vehicles. The first phase of the work from Heggadde to Kemphole, covering a distance of 11.77 km was concreted at a cost of Rs 69.90 crore and was inaugurated by then Union Minister Oscar Fernandes on August 10, 2015.