Bengaluru–Chennai Expressway Toll Glitches Raise Commuter Concerns

The partially operational Bengaluru–Chennai Expressway, envisioned as a high speed corridor to dramatically reduce travel time between the two metropolitan cities, is facing early operational challenges. Commuters using the open stretch have flagged repeated technical glitches at fully automated toll plazas, saying these issues are undermining the project’s promise of faster and smoother travel.

The expressway spans a planned length of about 262 km, of which roughly 71 km has been completed so far. The section between Hedigenabele near Hoskote and Sundarapalya close to Kolar Gold Fields became informally accessible to motorists in December 2024. While most of the civil works on the Karnataka side are nearing completion, construction activities in Tamil Nadu remain underway.

Regular users of the stretch say the main bottleneck is at automated toll plazas, particularly near Agrahara. Vehicles often come to a halt when FASTag systems fail to read tags or process payments, resulting in long queues within minutes. In the absence of stationed staff at several toll booths, motorists are left waiting until personnel arrive from control rooms with handheld scanners to manually resolve the issue.

Commuters acknowledge that the expressway has significantly cut travel time on certain sections. Trips that earlier took nearly one and a half hours between KGF and Bengaluru are now completed in under an hour. However, these gains are frequently offset by extended delays at toll plazas, with some users reporting wait times of over 20 minutes due to a single malfunction or an unrecharged FASTag ahead in the queue.

Experts note that while fully automated tolling is designed for efficiency, it requires robust backend systems and adequate on ground support during the initial phases. Without human intervention at critical points, even minor lapses can snowball into congestion on high speed corridors.

Once fully operational, the expressway is expected to serve as a major economic artery linking Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, connecting industrial clusters from Hoskote to Sriperumbudur and easing pressure on the existing Hosur route. Commuters and transport stakeholders say addressing toll management issues early will be crucial to ensuring the corridor delivers on its long term potential.