Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road: The mother of all road projects is underway in Bengaluru! And no, it is not just going to improve the state’s road network, but also give a major boost to the overall infrastructure along with providing relief to the commuters who are stuck in massive traffic jams in the city. If you are a resident of Bengaluru, then you must have guessed it by now. The project is none other than the Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) which is being constructed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). So what does this project entail and why is it back in news? Let’s find out.
Why is Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road making headlines?
To much relief of thousands of commuters, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has recently announced that the project is progressing with quick speed and will most likely be completed by March 2024, well ahead of schedule. The 288-km long stretch is being contructed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana to de-congest the Garden City.
Why is it called the “Satellite” Town Ring Road?
The Ring Road is called a Satellite Ring Road because it is going to connect the Satellite towns of Bengaluru. For those unaware, a satellite town, in an urban scenario, is a smaller metropolitan area located near the biggest metropolitan area. As per media reports, twelve towns in Bengaluru are going to be developed as the Satellite towns which are – Sulibele, Hoskote, Sarjapura, Attibele, Anekal, Dobbasapete, Doddaballapura, Devanahalli, Tattekere, Kanakapura, Ramanagaram, and Magadi.
Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road: Benefits and Connectivity!
- Gadkari has reportedly said that once the Ring Road is open, many trucks that have to travel to other areas of Karnataka will no longer need to visit Bangalore as the Ring Road would offer an alternate route for trucks to travel around the city’s congested neighbourhoods.
- The Ring Road will connect six National Highways and eight State Highways, which will help reduce traffic congestion in the city. It will also connect 12 important towns around Bengaluru, including Doddaballapura and Devanahalli among others. Devanahalli is the site of Kempegowda International Airport and Doddaballapura is considered to be more of an industrial city having quite a few multinational companies.
- Gadkari had earlier stated that this corridor is deisgned for a speed of 100 KMPH, boosting the speed of freight movement and increasing the traffic handling capacity.
- As mentioned above, it is going to provide safe movement of commercial vehicles without entering the Bengaluru city, which will in-turn reduce fuel cost and also the logistics cost.
- The Ring Road will also provide connectivity to proposed multi-modal logistics park at Dobaspet and proposed Pune-Bangalore Greenfield Expressway.
- This is also going to help the IT industry as it will allow them to spread their campuses, offices across the link.
- Gadkari had earlier announced that this Ring Road will also improve ‘port connectivity’ to Chennai port and Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh.
Other important details:
The NH-948A is being developed as part of the Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road. This is being constructed in three phases, while the existing NH-648 is being realigned with the old NH-207. The Karnataka government established the Satellite Town Ring Road Planning Authority in 2016 to overlook the STRR construction.
