Mysuru to Bengaluru in 90 minutes: Wait gets longer

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, which will reduce the travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes, is facing a major hurdle because of labour shortage, triggered by Covid and lockdown. The contractors have not been able to source labourers, majority of whom have returned to hometowns, and are managing only with half the required workers which could push the deadline for completion of the project by 2022.

The Union Ministry of Surface Transport announced in March 2014 that the Bengaluru-Mysuru state highway (SH-88) would be turned into a 10-lane National Highway (NH-275) with a distance of 117 km from the NICE entrance in Bengaluru to the Ring Road in Mysuru. After much dilly-dallying, the work started only in early 2019 instead of 2018, as there were issues, including land acquisition, shifting of amenities and legal aspects.