The project for South India’s first greenfield expressway connecting Chennai and Bengaluru is all set to kick-start in a few months. The four-lane expressway was being planned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) after the preliminary feasibility report was prepared back more than a decade ago.
The expressway will begin at Hoskote in Karnataka and end at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, passing through Palamaner and V Kota in Andhra Pradesh, and Gudiyattam and Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu. The 262-km expressway will have a speed limit of 120 kmph and reduce the travel distance by 50 km.
The expressway was initially planned to have eight lanes but was downgraded to four lanes, just months ahead of inviting bids for road construction. The move was made keeping in mind the existing alternative National Highway between the states and traffic volume.
Reportedly, the 326-km Chennai-Bengaluru bypass road carries more than 75,000 vehicles every day, and cannot hold more traffic. Keeping in mind the growing industrial demand on the stretch and the need for faster connectivity for end-to-end travellers, the eight-lane expressway was proposed.
The width of the road was also decided by factoring in the traffic and other routes between Bengaluru and Chennai, at a meeting attended by the member (projects), NHAI, chief general manager (technical), regional office, Bengaluru and other officials participated last year, said NHAI.
“It proposed to build the four-lane expressway extendable to eight lanes. The same shall be designed in such a way that future widening is feasible without any technical issue,” according to an official document obtained by the New Indian Express through an RTI.
“Additional land acquired for the project will be made available in the median. Thus, the road can be widened in future without any land acquisition,” the report quoted an official as saying.