BDA to build steel flyover on Ballari Road even as it plans concrete one on same stretch

If the vision of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) were to miraculously become a reality, the busy Ballari Road, which leads to the airport, may have three roads one on top of the other.

The BDA has prepared a plan for a concrete elevated road on the existing road, and a steel elevated corridor on the same stretch. Seems like the BDA’s left hand doesn’t seem to know what the right is doing.

BDA will float a tender for construction of a 6.75-km-long steel bridge between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal Junction, in the coming week. However, BDA is also working on the detailed project report (DPR) of a network of five elevated corridors, of which one of the corridors between Hebbal Junction and Silk Board Junction is aligned along the same line as the steel bridge. The elevated corridor network is billed as a high priority project of the State government to attract investments during the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) in November.

P.N. Naik, Member, Engineering, BDA when quizzed about the overlapping of the alignments of the two elevated corridors, said that if that was the case, they would change the alignment of the elevated corridors, but would go ahead with the steel bridge. However, confusion reigns in BDA over the alignment of the two projects. The elevated corridor project was earlier with the BBMP where the alignments were finalised before being recently transferred to BDA.

R.K. Mishra, a member of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of both BBMP and BDA who also work on the preliminary feasibility report of the elevated corridors project, rued that lack of inter-departmental and intra-departmental coordination was taking the city down.

The DPR for the steel bridge project estimates the cost of the project at Rs 1,400 crore was prepared in 2014. However, this is likely to see an escalation with the Public Works Department (PWD) set to revise the Schedule of Rates for the year this week.

The elevated corridor project was earlier with the BBMP where the alignments were finalised before being recently transferred to BDA.