The wait for Mysuru’s first grade separator or the flyover coming up at the Outer Ring Road (ORR) junction at Hinkal on the Mysuru-Bantwal National Highway (Hunsur Road stretch) is likely to get longer, with the work still under way.
The work, taken up by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) at a cost of around ₹19 crore, was expected to be completed before monsoon. The project appears to be running behind schedule for various reasons and the next “deadline” for its completion has been fixed before Dasara. But fixing a deadline ahead of the Dasara celebrations is usual practice as the city gets a lot of tourists that time of year.
The grade separator project was taken up to ease vehicle movement at the busy junction and ensure signal-free traffic.
When contacted, MUDA superintendent engineer Suresh Babu told The Hindu that the work was unlikely to be completed by June and it would take another two or three months. “We hope it is ready before Dasara or much earlier since the contractor has agreed to finish at the earliest,” he said.
Once ready, the flyover ensures non-stop and recurrent inter-city traffic to Mysuru.
One of the reasons for the delay was “non-availability” of heavy-duty cranes for lifting the pre-cast concrete blocks and placing them on the pier. “We wanted 60-tonne and 100-tonne cranes to lift the blocks, but they were not readily available in Mysuru and had to be procured from Bengaluru. Since the cranes were being used for other works, there was a delay in getting them to our site,” he said.
Last year, work on shifting drinking water supply lines passing underneath the project site at Hinkal took time since there was no clarity on which agency was supposed to relocate them. This delayed the project in the beginning and finally MUDA finished the job since the MCC was reportedly reluctant to carry out the task. The laying of the four-lane ring road span underneath the overpass has to be done as part of the project.
The ongoing work at the site has increased traffic density since vehicles coming from four directions have to invariably negotiate the narrow roads on both sides of the highway with the overpass work under progress. This stretch is considered the busiest in Mysuru.
MUDA also had plans to construct grade separators on ORR junctions on Mysuru-Bengaluru NH 275 (near Columbia Asia Hospital) and Mysuru-Nanjangud Highway (part of NH 212 near Bandipalya) to ensure uninterrupted traffic to the city. But it dropped these plans with the National Highways Authority of India taking over maintenance of the ORR.
