From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Mar 31: Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has promised an expressway linking Bengaluru and Chennai, the State capitals of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
After laying the foundation stone for development and upgradation of two sections of two national highways in Karnataka in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Gadkari said the proposed expressway between Bengaluru and Chennai would be on the model of the Mumbai-Pune expressway, which had reduced the travel time from eight to two hours.
The proposed expressway would be built of cement-concrete and would considerably reduce the travel time, he said.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and Public Works Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa were also present.
The issue of upgrading the Mysuru-Bengaluru State highway to a national highway would be considered, he said.
The minister promised to work out a viable solution.
Gadkari said that 10 road projects would be started in Karnataka before December this year at a total cost of Rs 10,000 crore.
The roads are: Hospet-Chitradurga, Hospet-Ballari, Hassan-BC Road, Shivamogga-Mangaluru, Ankola-Hubbali, Hubbali-Hospet, Vijayapura-Kalaburagi-Humnabad, Nelamangala-Tumakuru, Chitradurga-Haveri and Bengaluru-Dindigul (Tamil Nadu).
The minister also laid the foundation stone for the development and upgradation of the Vijayapura-Kalaburagi-Humnabad Section of NH-218 (New NH-50) to two-lane with paved shoulders from km 195 to km 418 under NHDP Phase IV and rehabilitation and upgradation to two-lane and two-lane with paved shoulders from Madhugiri-Gowribidnure-Chikkaballapura-Chintamani-Mulbagal Section of NH-234 (new NH-69) from km 343.800 to km 483.151 under Phase-I of NHIP.