Karnataka - Mysore   

Mysore-Nanjangud stretch to be upgraded

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Busy thoroughfare: Upgrading of Mysore-Nanjangud stretch of national highway has become necessary in view of increase in traffic density.

MYSORE: A Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) to upgrade the Mysore-Nanjangud stretch of National Highway No. 212 connecting Kozhikode with Kollegal will be prepared by the authorities in view of the projected growth in road traffic along this section.

Reckoned to be one of the busiest stretches among the national highways in the country, the traffic density on the Mysore-Nanjangud stretch has witnessed a phenomenal growth of over 10 per cent a year since the last five years and is likely to increase once the Mysore airport becomes functional in 2009.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Surface Transport and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently visited the city and conducted spot inspection of the Mysore-Nanjangud stretch and mooted the idea of preparing a CDP to upgrade the highway to six lane or eight lane so that it could cater to the next 40 to 50 years. Sources said the responsibility of preparing the CDP would be entrusted to an agency and it would be ready within a month, following which the recommendations and the entire report would be placed before the NHAI for final approval. It is estimated to cost about Rs. 4.5 crore a km and upgrading of the entire stretch will require an additional 280 acres of land.

Meanwhile, the proposed extension of the Mysore airport runway to 10,300 feet to cater to wide-bodied aircrafts such as Airbus and Boeing has forced the NHAI to create a new diversion which will entail the commuters between Mysore and Nanjangud to take a detour.

The proposed diversion would commence near Kadakola and join the Uttanahalli gate on the outskirts of the city. As a result, the distance between Mysore and Nanjangud would increase by 10 km from the present 23 km, the sources said.

Traffic density on the Mysore-Nanjangud stretch of the highway has been estimated at 26,140 passenger car units a day and is projected to increase phenomenally in view of rapid industrialisation of Nanjangud which is fast emerging as an extension of Mysore.

Of the nearly 67,000 km of roads coming under NHAI, only 12 per cent are four-laned while 32 per cent are single-laned and 56 per cent of the road network is double-laned. However, the national highways themselves account for only two per cent of the total road network in the country but handle more than 40 per cent of the passenger and cargo traffic that plies on roads.

Meanwhile, president of the Nanjangud Industries Association Ramaprasad told The Hindu that the Mysore-Nanjangud stretch had emerged as a major accident zone and was dangerous in view of the high traffic density.

Nanjangud industrial zone has an annual turnover of over Rs. 1,200 crore. There are 52 major industries in Nanjangud industrial area and the numbers are increasing due to potential for growth.

A majority of containers that either originate or terminate in Mysore district are headed to Nanjangud, and the existing highways are perceived to be too narrow to cater to the trucks. This problem is acute in the early hours of the day and during evening.

The traffic congestion on the highway has amplified in view of the closure of the metre-gauge railway track connecting Mysore with Chamarajanagar via Nanjangud owing to the ongoing gauge conversion work. The roads will continue to be clogged until the Mysore-Nanjangud section is thrown open for rail traffic next year.

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