BBMP gives nod to cut open white-topped ORR for metro work

Piers for the airport line will come up on the road median

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has given permission to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) to cut open the white-topped Outer Ring Road (ORR) to facilitate the construction of the airport metro line. The BMRCL has already started barricading some stretches of the road to carry out preliminary work. Despite an increasing number of people currently working from home, traffic on the busy road will be affected once the metro construction reaches an advanced stage.

“The BMRCL has said that the piers for elevated corridors will come up on the road median, and need around six metres of land along the stretch to build the pillars while the median width is three-four metres. They may cut open one or two metres on either side of the road for this,” said a BBMP official.

The BBMP had taken up the white-topping work on all six lanes of the ORR in 2018-19 at a cost of ₹15 crore per kilometre. When criticised over the lack of planning and the futility of white-topping a road that would see metro work, civic officials claimed that the BMRCL finalised the alignment of the airport line after white-topping was completed.