The proposed locations for the tunnels include nightmarish traffic locations such as Silk Board, Old Madras Road, Tumakuru Road among others.
Going bullish on his plans, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday said the government will float a global tender in the next 45 days to build tunnels spanning 190 km at different locations in Bengaluru.
Ever since coming to power, Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru City Development minister, has been pitching for tunnels as a way to decongest the city that is notorious for gridlocks.
Describing Bengaluru as an unplanned city, Shivakumar said he wants international expertise for the tunnel project. “In some countries, such experiments have been on since 300-400 years…one-lane, two-lane, three-lane…We will decide later on whether to go for four-lane or six-lane tunnels. Four lanes are mandatory. We need to identify entry and exit points (for tunnels),” Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar said nine companies came forward to prepare a comprehensive decongestion and traffic management plan for Bengaluru. Of them, eight are eligible. One of them will be shortlisted by the end of the month to submit the plan.
