Getting the ₹20,000 crore Chennai–Bengaluru Expressway (CBE) off its feet, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has called for tenders for the construction of a 13-km elevated corridor from Chennai Outer Ring Road (CORR) junction to Sriperumbudur.
The CBE starts at Hosekot near Bengaluru and runs till Sriperumbudur. From here, the 13-km-long elevated stretch will offer connectivity to vehicles coming from and to the city, said sources in the NHAI. The elevated corridor will cost around ₹2,200 crore and is expected to be constructed in two and half years.
The same contractor would have to maintain it for a period of four years. The project is to be taken up on an engineering, procurement and construct mode with the NHAI making payments.
Last month, the NHAI called for tenders for a 26.4- km stretch from Bengaluru to Malur in Kolar that would cost over ₹1,110 crore. The Central government had announced that the project will take off in 2018.
Land acquisition
Since the acquisition of 2,800 acres of land is at an advanced stage or completed for the 262 km long expressway that runs through three States — Tamil Nadu (covering a length of 98.38 km), Andhra Pradesh (88.3 km) and Karnataka (75.6 km), the tenders have been called.
The road is being designed to allow vehicles to run at 120 km/hr, and would pass through Kolar, Palamaner, Chittoor and Kancheepuram. The expressway would be an alternative to the existing Chennai– Bengaluru road.
Traffic on the popular Chennai–Bengaluru Road could get real slow sometimes, especially near the toll plazas and in places where there are bad patches or where there is movement of heavy vehicles.“The present road has very heavy traffic and though I love to drive, I am forced to take trains as I don’t like to wait at toll plazas,” said G. Selvakumar from Ambattur.
Work on the greenfield road that includes 60 major bridges, 97 minor bridges, four road over bridges at railway crossings and nine flyovers, would be carried out in phases, said sources in the NHAI.
The prominent rivers which the project crosses are Palar, Kaundinya, Ponnai and Kaveripak.
