BENGALURU: With South India’s tallest road-cum-rail flyover at Ragigudda soon to be opened unidirectionally, traffic police anticipate that congestion will ease significantly at the choked Central Silk Board Junction. The road on the flyover’s first level, 8 metres above the ground, and three ramps are finally ready.
Its official launch awaits dates from the Chief Minister’s office, and will come as a huge relief for employees of Electronics City.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has built the Rs 330-crore flyover on Marenahalli Road at a height of 31 metres, with the RV Road-Bommasandra Metro line tracks laid on the second level. This is the first flyover in South India to have a Metro line over an elevated road.
DCP Traffic (South) Shiva Prakash Devaraju told TNIE, “When the road is opened up, it will bring down congestion at Silk Board Junction by 25% to 30%. However, we are apprehensive that traffic will shift to HSR Layout and Bommanahalli. Let us wait and watch.”
“A total road length of 5.23km, including three ramps and loops, are set to open shortly. It will be signal-free,” said Chief Public Relations Officer, BMRCL, BL Yashavanth Chavan.
A visit to the flyover before the launch showed that some final touches were being given to the new 20m wide road which runs for 3.3km from Ragigudda to CSB Junction. “Five ramps are planned here. While A, B and C ramps will be opened now, we are trying to complete D and E by March 2025,”said a senior BMRCL official.
‘A’ ramp is an extension of the new road from CSB Junction to Hosur. At this junction, the road also branches out to HSR Layout, making it the ‘C’ Ramp. ‘B’ Ramp will connect the ground level of the flyover to ‘A’ ramp. The ramps have loops attached, the official added.
The ramps in the opposite direction are yet to be completed. ‘D’ ramp will connect HSR Layout to Ragigudda, while ‘E’ ramp will connect BTM Layout to the first level of the flyover.
With BMRCL demolishing the iconic Jayadeva flyover in June 2020 to build the Jayadeva Interchange Station for the Yellow Line and Pink Line (Nagawara to Kalena Agrahara), it had to take up the task of building another flyover here.
The flyover has missed multiple deadlines. The State government unveiled the plan in January 2017, and the flyover was to be completed by December 2020. With the first tender floated in April 2018 not approved as there was a single bidder, it had to go in for re-tendering a few times. It has missed deadlines of October 2021, June 2022, March and December 2023, and March 2024. The flyover was ready last year but the ramps were not complete.