Mysore/Mysuru: Work on the 93-km Mysuru-Madikeri Highway is expected to commence from June 2022 and will be laid at an estimated cost of Rs. 3,883 crore. 

The project will be a separate one from the existing NH-275 and will begin from Paschimavahini near Srirangapatna. 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. 

Speaking to reporters at Jaladarshini Guest House in city on Wednesday, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said that the project will be fully funded by the Centre including land acquisition. The road will not touch Mysuru and will link the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway (near Paschimavahini) that is being expanded to 10-lane Expressway.

For the project, the stretch between Mysuru and Kushalnagar will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and will link Madikeri bypassing Hunsur and Mysuru. “The alignment has been approved in principle by the competent authority and the civil works will cost Rs. 2,733 crore while the cost of land acquisition has been pegged at Rs. 1,151 crore,” he said. 

The four-lane Highway project will be part of the 376-km-long National Highway-275 between Bengaluru and Bantwal. The new Highway will reduce the vehicle pressure on NH-275, the lifeline between Mysuru and Madikeri and commuters from Madikeri to Bengaluru need not touch Mysuru at all, the MP said. The Expressway has a design length of 93 kilometres and bypasses have been proposed having an aggregate length of 84 kilometres at Kushalnagar, Periyapatna and combined bypass for Hunsur, Bilikere and Mysuru. It will have a road median and the alignment for the new road has already been done. “It will considerably reduce the journey time between Madikeri and Bengaluru. Oncompletion of the project, the travelling time between Bengaluru and Madikeri will be reduced to about 3.5 hours from around 6 hours at present,” he added. 

Another highlight of this project is that it will completely create a new bypass for Mysuru as there will be a deviation (Greenfield Road) from Srirangapatna (near Bommuru Agrahara). A bypass of 12.34 km at Kushalnagar, 20.22 km at Periyapatna and a combined length of 51.43 km for Mysuru to Bilikere and Hunsur will be built as part of the project.

The Expressway will connect Kushalnagar with Bengaluru bypassing Kushalnagar town, Bylakuppe, Koppa, Kampalapura, Periyapatna, Kallbeta, Gonikoppal Deviation Road, Hunsur, Gungral Chatra, Hale Unduwadi, Hosa Ramanahalli and Mysuru. The Expressway will touch the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway at Paschimavahini near Srirangapatna, the MP added.