BENGALURU: Those commuting from the Kempe Gowda International airport to the City via the choked Hebbal flyover route can look forward to some relief in future. The widening work of the flyover, announced in the State budget this year, is finally set to begin the coming week. To ease the congestion, the Rs 88-crore flyover project was meant to be implemented with top priority and even work orders were issued in April. But it got delayed due to the aborted steel flyover which shot into prominence then.
Explaining the widening project, a top BDA official said that two lanes would be created towards one end of the flyover along the direction towards the City from the airport. “Each lane will have a width of 3.75 metres and a length of 1.2 km. It will be made of concrete.” PJB Engineering Limited has been awarded the contract with a 15-month deadline.”The tender was finalised a week ago,” he said.
Specifying location details, another official said the chief feature will be the loop here. As per the design, the flyover will begin after the Esteem Mall on Ballari Road. Beginning at the starting point of the Hebbal Flyover, there will be an up ramp between Ballari Road and the road towards Nagawara. It takes the shape of a loop after it and will go over the existing K R Puram-Bengaluru loop at the second level. The loop will branch off into a straight lane that will run parallel to the existing flyover. Among other prominent locations it will cross enroute is the Hebbal Police Station. It will terminate at the Baptist Hospital.
According to an estimate by BDA, 23,799 passenger car units (PCUs) use the flyover every hour with a total of 3,43,505 PCUs passing through the flyover daily. A top BDA official claimed there would be no traffic disruption when work commences this week. “Initially, no problem is expected. After a fortnight, when we near the middle, there could be a little disruption in traffic flow due to the piling work (underground digging to lay the foundation),’ an official said. Officials remained tightlipped on the reasons for the delay in commencement of the project. The Hebbal flyover’s carriageway for vehicles heading from the City towards KIA was widened earlier in 2015.