BENGALURU: After about four years, a 200-metre stretch of the Kamaraj Road, which had remained closed to facilitate underground Metro work, is all set to open to traffic in April, four months ahead of schedule.
The section of the road was closed for construction of the underground Metro station on MG Road along the Kalena Agrahara-Nagawara line. The road was initially planned to be reopened in August this year, but BMRCL has announced that it will be opened four months ahead in April.
Opening of the stretch of Kamaraj Road will help many officegoers around Manipal Centre, MG Road and surrounding areas. Currently they have to take a detour to reach their destinations. Traders in Commercial Street too had claimed that closure of the road had affected their businesses.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said work on the airport Metro line is also going on at a steady pace. He said he has instructed the officials to have an elevated line wherever pillars have not been erected as there are traffic problems where pillars have already been erected.
“One level will be a flyover for traffic and the upper level will be for the Metro. It will cost about 60 per cent fo building a flyover and the BBMP and BMRCL will share the cost. I have seen the Nagpur Metro and we will use a similar model in the coming days”, he said.
With fresh proposals expected in the state budget next week, the Deputy CM said, “Directives have already been issued to get a detailed project report (DPR) on extending the Metro to Tumakuru, Anekal and Bidadi. Since the Centre is also a stakeholder, we will have to take them into confidence too”.