READY: Airport Road Flyover will be thrown open to the public on July 8. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: After a delay of almost two years, both Airport Road Flyover and the road underpass at Jayadeva Flyover are almost complete and would be opened to the public shortly.

M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, Commissioner of the Bangalore Development Authority, said the main carriageway of the Airport Road Flyover would be opened to the public on July 8. On Friday, the BDA started load tests for the flyover.

The complete Airport Road Flyover, with three loops, would be completed by September, Mr. Shankaralinge Gowda said.

"Once traffic eases on the main road, we will start work on the loops. We will complete one each month," he added.

The airport road flyover was envisioned in 1999 when Jayakar Jerome was BDA Commissioner.

The contract for the construction of the flyover was handed over to the Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Limited (UPSBC) and work on it started in February 2004. Work was to be completed by April 2004 but soon a revised deadline was drawn up for March 2005.

Slow pace of work

The BDA, which felt progress on the flyover was slow, cancelled the contract. This was challenged by the contractors bringing work to a standstill for several months.

After the High Court ruled in favour of the UPSBC, work on the project started once again. However, the cost of the project escalated with the BDA spending an additional Rs. 9.11 crore on the project.

The underpass and grade-level separator of Jayadeva Flyover would be opened on July 15, said Mr. Shankaralinge Gowda. The main flyover was inaugurated last year.

The work on this flyover was also contracted to UPSBC. The scheduled date of completion was April 2004 but the main flyover was completed only in June 2005.

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