The National Highways of Authority of India (NHAI) will start collecting the toll on the newly built Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway from Tuesday.
Car owners will have to pay ₹135 for a single trip on Bengaluru–Nidaghatta section (55 km) of the expressway. For a return journey within a day, the toll is fixed at ₹205. For mini-bus, the toll will be ₹220 and for bus ₹460 (single journey). The NHAI has categorised six types of vehicles for collecting toll.
The NHAI, after holding a meeting with Ramanagara district administration, has decided to collect the toll from 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Initially, there was a proposal to collect the toll from Monday. However, as the district administration said that the number of vehicles returning to Bengaluru after the weekend would be higher on Monday, the toll collection was deferred till Tuesday.
Project director (NHAI) B.T. Sridhara told The Hindu that in the first phase, toll would be collected for using main lanes of the expressway from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta. Toll will be collected at Kaniminike village in Bengaluru Urban district and Sheshagirihalli in Ramanagaram district. The total length of the toll road is 55 km. “For the rest of the stretch, toll will be decided once the works are completed,” the official said.
The NHAI is expediting the work between Nidaghatta and Mysuru. The official said the work would be complete by March 10. Union Minister for Roads Transport and Highways recently announced that the expressway would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The inauguration of the highway is likely to happen before March 15. The total length of the expressway is 117 km. Some of the features of the project include 8-km-long elevated corridor, nine major bridges, 42 minor bridges, four railway overbridges, and five bypasses.
When asked about banning entry of bikes and autorickshaws on the main lanes of the expressway, the official said, “There is a proposal to ban the entry of bikes and autorickshaws, a notification in this regard will come at a later stage.”
