BENGALURU: India’s second longest cable-stayed bridge covering a distance of 6-km long across River Sharavathi in Shivamogga was inaugurated by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday. The works on the cable-stayed bridge began in 2019.
Addressing the gathering after cable-stayed bridge inauguration in Sagara taluk of Shivamogga, Gadkari said a new corridor of four-lane connecting Belagavi-Hungud-Raichur has been taken-up at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore and the nearly 5 percent of the works on the corridor has been completed so far. The new corridor will reduce the travel time and help develop underdeveloped taluks of Uttara Kannada.
A major road construction has also been taken-up to link Delhi to Karnataka to assess south India States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kochi among other parts. Earlier, he said, to reach Karnataka, one had to go through Mumbai, Kolhapur and Solapur but a new road now connects Kashmir in the north tip of the country with Kanyakumari in the south tip.
The four-laning of Bengaluru-Chennai is expected to be completed by December this year and when inaugurated the travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai will come down to 2-hours, Gadikari said and stated the construction of ring road in Bengaluru has been progressing and nearly 40 percent of the works have been finished. When completed, he said, the Bengaluru traffic congestion will be eased to a considerable extent. The works on the ring road in Bengaluru is going at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore.
Tenders have been floated for Hassan-Raichur Economic Corridor, said the Union Minister and the road linking Hassan with Raichur will not only bring down the travel time but help boost tourism activities by connecting world heritage site Hampi with Srirangaptna, a major tourist destination in Mandya.
The construction of Tumakuru-Shivamogga is nearing completion and the works are expected to be completed by December this year, said the Minister and stated that nearly 90 percent of the works on the Tumakuru-Shivamogga have been completed. With this road, he said, travel time between Bengaluru and Shivamogga will be down from 7 hours to 3.5 hours in the coming days.
Speaking at the function, Shivamogga Lok Sabha member B.Y. Raghavendra asked Gadkari to consider his request to bring Agumbe Ghat in Shivamogga linking Udupi district in coastal region under PM Gati Shakti programme and explained to the Union Minister the Agumbe Ghat is “unsafe” since the Ghat road has diverse terrain and steep curves making the travel a ‘nightmare’ especially during monsoon.
Raghavendra said the Agumbe Ghat records as many as 10,000 vehicles plying a day including freight and medical emergency services.
The Lok Sabha member also drew the attention of Gadkari over the need to bring Balehonnur-Shivamogga-Hospet under National Highway and expand the road from its current two-lane to four lane.