BENGALURU: With the Srirangapatna bypass opening to the public last week, the much-awaited Bengaluru-Mysuru highway is all set for the inauguration and it will likely be done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has expanded the National Highway 275, including the expressway, to a 10-lane road. The 117-km highway -- from the NICE entrance in Bengaluru to Ring Road junction in Mysuru -- is expected to cut travel time from an average of three hours to just 90 minutes.
Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said it will be officially inaugurated in March first week by Modi. Most parts of the stretch are already open and vehicles, including KSRTC buses, are taking close to two hours.
The quantum of toll has not been fixed yet, but collection is likely to start this month as motorists are already using the road. “We were waiting for the bypasses at Mandya and Srirangapatna to open, which has been done now,” sources from NHAI said.
In March 2014, the Union Ministry of Surface Transport had announced some roads across the country would be upgraded to National Highways and Bengaluru-Mysuru stretch was one of them. The estimated cost of the project in 2014 was Rs 4,100 crore, which has doubled now.