Service road works near Kaniminike toll plaza will be completed shortly: NHAI

On Wednesday morning, a portion of the barricade between main carriageway and service road was breached by unidentified people to avoid toll

Facing flak for collecting toll on the newly-inaugurated Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway without completing service roads, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has promised to complete the service road works near Christ University within a few days.

Once completed, regular travelers can commute towards Bidadi and other areas without crossing the toll plaza and main carriageway. There was intense opposition to collect toll on the expressway before the completion of service roads.

B.T. Sridhar, project director of the expressway, on Wednesday said that for two years, due to legal hurdles, construction works could not be taken up on this particular stretch.

“Earlier, there was a stay on construction works. Now, the stay has been vacated. We are already on the job to complete the service road works. Power supply lines are being removed to carry out the work. Once this is complete, motorists going towards Bidadi and other areas can travel using the service road.”

On Wednesday morning, motorists avoided paying the toll by taking a detour to the service roads near Kaniminike toll plaza. During the early morning hours, unknown persons had opened a portion of the road giving access from the main carriageway to the service road, just before the toll plaza near Kaniminike.

“After coming from Kumbalgodu flyover, motorists are taking a left turn just before the toll plaza and entering the service road to avoid paying the toll fee.  They are returning to the main carriageway after using the service road for some distance. There is loss of revenue due to this subversion. We urge motorists using the main carriageway to pay the toll fee as specified,” Mr. Sridhar said.

After commencement of toll collection, the motorists have been alleging that even for short distance travel, they are forced to pay a hefty toll fee. They demanded that the NHAI defer the toll collection, till the completion of the service road. On the other hand, regular passengers of the KSRTC too are paying additional fares of ₹15 to ₹20 as the corporation decided to transfer the burden of toll on the passengers.