The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Rajajinagar grade separator, Modi Hospital Road underpass ready

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 24, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Rajajinagar grade separator, Modi Hospital Road underpass ready

Afshan Yasmeen

Outgoing Mayor to inaugurate the two mega projects tomorrow

BANGALORE: Citizens in the western parts of Bangalore, who have been enduring chaotic traffic and one-way systems for the past several months, can heave a sigh of relief.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) will throw open on Friday the Modi Hospital Road-Chord Road junction underpass and the Rajajinagar underpass.

Work on the Rajajinagar underpass is in full swing as workers are trying to give finishing touches to the project. Iron railings painted in yellow and black are being installed and roads are being asphalted. While earth moving equipment are clearing heaps of mud dumped on either side of the underpass, medians are being laid with mud and Mexican grass.

Mayor R. Narayanaswamy, who will lay down office on Tuesday, will inaugurate these projects and lay the foundation stone for several infrastructure projects in Malleswaram, Mathikere and Yeshwanthpur on Friday. Although work on these projects started in early 2003, a stretch of the Modi Hospital-Chord Road junction underpass connecting the Mahakavi Kuvempu Road to Modi Hospital and a portion of the Rajajinagar underpass connecting Bashyam Circle to Okalipuram were opened for traffic only from August this year.

Work on these two projects had caused hardship to motorists in Vijaynagar, Rajajinagar, Yeshwanthpur, Srirampuram and surrounding areas as the work sites — Vatal Nagaraj Road, and Modi Hospital Road-Chord Road junction are the only connecting routes to the Central Business District.

Although the Rajajinagar underpass was delayed mostly because of a rift between the contractor and the sub-contractor (who had walked out of the project midway), BMP officials attributed the delay to problems in land acquisition and rise in cost of steel and other material.

Constructed at a cost of Rs. 15 crores, the Rajajinagar underpass has a four-lane grade separator from MEI Polytechnic to Rajajinagar Link Road (Vatal Nagaraj Road), improvement to Magadi Road and Okalipuram junctions, widening of roads and remodelling of drains.

According to the project engineers, it will be similar to the Mehkri Circle grade separator and over 10,000 vehicles can commute smoothly through this underpass every hour and eight buses can pass simultaneously.

The Modi Hospital Road-Chord Road junction underpass connecting Yehswanthpur Road to Mysore Road through an underpass and the Modi Hospital and Navrang Circle at the surface has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 14.5 crores.

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