Tamil Nadu Stretch of Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway Delayed Until December

The much-touted Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, which spans through Tamil Nadu, might just be ready by the end of this year and not in August as promised. This was owing to reasons such as the continued monsoon rains, utility shifts getting delayed, borrow area approval getting delayed and financial constraints that contractors are facing

The Tamil Nadu leg of the 262-km greenfield expressway stretches 106 km long, and its four packages would be Gudipala to Walajahpet, Walajahpet to Arakkonam, Arakkonam to Kancheepuram, and Kancheepuram to Sriperumbudur. While Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari presented the progress report to the Lok Sabha, it would be safe to say that progress is different in each one of these stretches. While Walajahpet to Arakkonam stands at a 90% completion level, Arakkonam to Kancheepuram, for instance, stands at just 52%. The slow progress in the Arakkonam to Kancheepuram stretch is mainly due to financial difficulties faced by the concessionaire and delays in compensation for land and crop loss related to high-tension utility shifting. Consequently, this section is expected to be completed only by December. Meanwhile, the Kancheepuram to Sriperumbudur section is likely to be finished by September, and the Walajahpet to Arakkonam stretch by July.

The Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway is 262 km long, starting from Hosakote near Bengaluru and ending at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, passing through Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. It is being developed in 10 packages across three states to ensure efficient execution. While the Karnataka section is already complete, delays persist in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The expressway will be fully access-controlled with four lanes of travel when the project becomes operational and has a design speed of 120 km/h, while providing provision to be increased up to six and eight lanes, based on growth in traffic volumes. This would, no doubt, save huge travel time between these two metropolitan cities and hence help to connect both places along with enhanced economic activity in the region.