Over 55% of the work to construct the four-lane brownfield Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway (BCE) has been completed in Tamil Nadu, where it will run for 106 km and cost ₹5,971 crore to construct. The access-controlled road will also pass through Andhra Pradesh (85 km) and Karnataka (71 km).
Sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is executing the project, said with the end of the monsoon and availability of land and materials, the work was being fast-tracked. “We hope to finish it by the end of the calendar year,” said an official source. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced in Parliament that the expressway would be completed by the end of the year.
In Tamil Nadu, the work is being carried out in four packages, and the road will have three rest areas, two truck lay-bys, 34 major bridges, 31 minor bridges, three rail overbridges, and three interchanges. The stretch between Walajapet and Arakkonam is the fastest progressing one, with 62.22% of it being completed.
Karnataka has completed 87% of the work, the most among the three States, at a cost of ₹5,465.08 crore. This stretch will have four grade separators, 15 major bridges, 47 minor bridges, 63 underpasses, four toll plazas, and one truck lay-by.
In Andhra Pradesh, the work is being carried out on three stretches for a total cost of ₹4,259 crore, and road-laying work has started in all the stretches. An average of 40% of the work has been completed so far.
The complete length of the under-construction BCE Project, which will help cut down travel time between the two cities, is around 258 km. It will pass through seven districts – three in Karnataka (Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, and Kolar), Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and three in Tamil Nadu (Vellore, Kancheepuram, and Tiruvallur).
