The South Western Railway has announced that the Baiyappanahalli railway flyover coming up in Bengaluru is almost complete and ahead of schedule. This flyover connects Old Madras Road (Swami Vivekananda Road) to Sevanagar.
South Western Railway Road Engineer RK Singh told TNM that he expects the project to be completed within 11 months. According to public information boards erected in the vicinity, the project was supposed to take a total of 15 months. A visit to the site of the flyover construction reveals the slow pace of construction work.
Speaking to TNM, RK Singh said, “The project was to have eight piers, but six piers were already completed. Some parts of the flyover are being moulded and cast elsewhere, and they are being assembled at the site. So, even if it doesn’t look like much work is happening, things are moving fast, and when we assemble everything, it will be ready by August end.”
The part of the flyover leading to Sevanagar was completely built about eight years ago, say residents, leading to their frustration at the incomplete flyover, especially during traffic snarls that have been ongoing for many years. The railways, however, reasons that the project was held up for nearly a decade because the army was unwilling to give up part of their land to supplement the project.
The Road Engineer says that Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman worked with the local MLA S Raghu in CV Raman Nagar constituency when she handled the Defence portfolio, in order to get the necessary land released for construction of the flyover.
The army land was finally released in September 2019, and work has begun in full swing following that. The road connecting Indiranagar to Banaswadi has since been closed, and alternative routes witness heavy traffic during peak hours due to the construction activity. Local commuters say that they eagerly await the inauguration of the new Baiyappanahalli railway flyover to ease traffic woes.