Back in 2005 and 2006 there were complaints galore from commuters who worked in Electronics City in Bangalore, a 300 acre electronic industrial park that is one of the largest and oldest such IT parks in the country. The commuters complained that the four-laned road to the park had become so congested that a 10 km drive from The Silk Board junction to Electronics City in rush hour could take upwards of two hours. The government, in response, decided to build an elevated tollway, 10kms long that would allow commuters to get on this tollway right after the Silk Board junction which would deposit them right outside Electronics City, without any stoplights, any intersections. A four lane dedicated corridor. This tollway was completed in early 2010. For a month or so no toll was charged, which was also the best period to get on the tollway for a joy ride.
Per the Wikipedia entry on the tollway:
Per the expressay's web site , this road has been built by "a Consortium of Soma Enterprise Ltd (Soma), Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited (NCCL), and Maytas Infra Limited (Maytas)"
This photo has been taken looking north; facing the Silk Board junction. The Innova minivan and two wheelers seen in the photo are heading south, towards Electronics City.
What is interesting to note is that there is no break in the median. There is this metal barricade runs through all the way. While this has obviously been done to discourage people from getting silly and dangerous ideas about making u-turns and causing dangerous accidents. The downside is that it also becomes difficult for emergency vehicles to approach the scene of an accident or emergency from the other side of the tollway.
This is where the elevated expressway starts off on the north end, just after the Silk Board flyover:
View Larger Map
You can view some more photos at the tollway site's photo gallery.
Per the Wikipedia entry on the tollway:
The Bangalore Elevated Tollway is a 9.985 kilometers (6 mi) long elevated, tolled, access-controlled expressway in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The project is a part of the BETL (Bangalore Elevated Tollways Ltd), project as part of the National Highways Development Project and the Elevated Highways Project. It was initiated in early 2006, and was inaugurated on 22 January 2010.[1]
Per the expressay's web site , this road has been built by "a Consortium of Soma Enterprise Ltd (Soma), Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited (NCCL), and Maytas Infra Limited (Maytas)"
This photo has been taken looking north; facing the Silk Board junction. The Innova minivan and two wheelers seen in the photo are heading south, towards Electronics City.
What is interesting to note is that there is no break in the median. There is this metal barricade runs through all the way. While this has obviously been done to discourage people from getting silly and dangerous ideas about making u-turns and causing dangerous accidents. The downside is that it also becomes difficult for emergency vehicles to approach the scene of an accident or emergency from the other side of the tollway.
This is where the elevated expressway starts off on the north end, just after the Silk Board flyover:
View Larger Map
You can view some more photos at the tollway site's photo gallery.
© 2011, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved.
