Most difficult Metro stretch at Silk Board inaugurated

BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, along with BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, on Friday inaugurated the most difficult stretch which consisted of double-decker metro flyover at Silk Board junction, providing relief to lakhs of commuters.

With flyovers D and E now opened for operational traffic, all five flyovers of the Central Silk Board double-decker flyover are operational. The flyover, South India’s first road-cum-rail structure, has brought long-awaited relief to thousands of commuters. Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. has constructed the five flyovers as part of its larger contract for elevated metro project along the Outer Ring Road and Central Silk Board junction.

“The Central Silk Board flyover stands as a testament to engineering excellence in the face of extraordinary complexity. Building a five-level structure amid Bengaluru’s second busiest junctions required precision, perseverance and innovation. With all flyovers set to be operational, we are proud to deliver not just infrastructure, but meaningful relief to lakhs of commuters every day”, said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Chairman, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.

As part of the Blue Line, Afcons Infrastructure Limited is constructing the 9.8 km elevated section of Bengaluru Metro’s Silk Board-KR Puram (Phase 2A) project, which includes decongestion at Central Silk Board junction.

D Murugadasan, Executive Vice-President (divisional head) at Afcons, said that due to heavy traffic at the junction for most of the day, space constraints with clusters of existing and ongoing flyovers and metro structures, works have to be planned and executed in a sequential manner, construction activity could be carried out only for five hours in a day, between 12 am and 5 am at mid night.

“All five flyovers are now operational. Commuters can save at least 30 minutes of travel time. Of the five flyovers, Flyover D is the tallest at 28 metres. It is at the fifth level, crossing the existing Hosur flyover, the Yellow Line metro and the double-decker flyover. Despite heavy traffic volumes and confined working space due to existing Rajakaluve on one side and 3 operational flyovers (Hosur flyover, Flyover A & Flyover C) and under construction CSB station (blue line) the team successfully completed all flyovers with precision”, said Ambareesh, Project Manager, Afcons.

The Central Silk Board junction is the city’s second-most congested traffic point after Hebbal and the construction of flyovers A, B, C, D & E together spanning 3.2 km has decongested the traffic at the junction. Three flyovers (A, B and C) were opened in mid-2024 to ease travel from Ragigudda and BTM towards HSR Layout and Electronic City by bypassing the Silk Board signal.

With the remaining two flyovers (D and E) now operational, commuters from HSR to BTM can bypass Silk Board entirely. The signal will henceforth mainly serve HSR-Madivala and Electronic City-HSR traffic, bringing major relief from congestion.

The flyover system includes:
Flyover A: Ragigudda Metro Station to Hosur Road
Flyover B: BTM Layout to Hosur Road and HSR Layout via Flyover A
Flyover C: Branch from Flyover A towards HSR Layout
Flyovers D & E: Newly opened, from HSR Layout to Ragigudda, with a down flyover for BTM Layout.