• Existing National Highway 275 will not be widened due to land hurdles
• New Expressway will directly connect Madikeri to Paschimavahini in Srirangapatna

Mysuru:  Vehicle pressure on National Highway (NH) – 275, the lifeline between Mysuru and Madikeri, will be a thing of the past and the present scenario of bumper-to-bumper traffic during weekends and holidays will cease to exist as one more new Highway will be built to connect the cultural capital of Karnataka (Mysuru) and the capital of Kodagu (Madikeri). And the good news is that commuters from Madikeri to Bengaluru need not touch Mysuru at all as the 4-lane high-speed Expressway will link the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway that is being expanded to 10-lane Highway.

Called the Mysuru-Madikeri Economic Corridor Expressway Project along Mysuru- Madikeri NH-275, the project is being implemented by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the land acquisition process is already on. The 115 km-long Expressway costing Rs.6,000 crore is a fully Centrally-funded Project including land acquisition.

Additional road

In the first phase, works on the 85-km Mysuru-Kushalnagar stretch will be taken up for which the land acquisition process has begun. The Expressway will connect Madikeri with Bengaluru bypassing Suntikoppa, Kushalnagar, Bylakuppe, Koppa, Kampalapura, Periyapatna, Kallbeta, Gonikoppal Deviation Road, Hunsur and Mysuru. The Expressway will touch the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway at Paschimavahini near Srirangapatna.

It will have a road median and the alignment for the new corridor has already been done. It will considerably reduce the journey time between Madikeri and Bengaluru and also connects several cities in North Kerala.

Pressure on existing road

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha and NHAI Project Director B.T. Sridhar said that the existing four-lane road between Mysuru and Madikeri (NH-275) has reached a saturation point and there is an urgent need to build a separate road. Travelling on the existing Highway is a nightmarish experience especially during weekends and holidays when thousands of vehicles move between Mysuru and Madikeri, a hill station.

Earlier, there was a plan to widen the NH-275 on either side. But the main roadblock to this project is Rare Materials Plant (RMP), a Central Government Defence Establishment and Arabithittu Reserve Forest owned by Karnataka Forest Department (KFD). If the NH has to be widened, RMP and KFD have to give land and this is near to impossible and is a long-drawn process. As such, the widening of NH-275 has been shelved and an entirely new Expressway project has been taken up.

In the second phase of works, the stretch between Madikeri, Sullia and Bantwal will be taken up and a feasibility report is being prepared by a Bengaluru-based private agency.

14-metre wide road

Pratap Simha said that the project has been initiated by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and will connect Madikeri to Naguvinahalli near Paschimavahini. It will be a 14-metre wide road and the Centre has already received administrative approval. “Rs.6,000 crore has been set aside for land acquisition only and the project will use 25 percent of the existing roads, 40 percent Government land and the remaining 45 percent land will be purchased from private parties,” he said.

A dedicated office for land acquisition ‘Special Land Acquisition Officer and Competent Authority (Mysuru-Madikeri Section) NH-275’ has been set up at No.984, First Floor, Geetha Road, Chamarajapuram.

Lane alignment

“After conducting detailed surveys, the officials will first prepare the lane alignment in coordination with the Revenue Officers of Mysuru, Hunsur, Periyapatna, Madikeri and Kushalnagar. The total project cost will be estimated later once the lands are acquired and the lane alignment is done. Once the initial processes are complete, technical and financial approvals will be taken and tenders will be called,” the MP said.

Pratap Simha added that the project will ensure better connectivity from Madikeri to Bengaluru and will be an additional one to the existing NH-275.