The 10-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway 275 will be inaugurated by February this year, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said .
The minister announced after conducting an aerial and ground inspection of the Mysuru-Bengaluru expressway along with other projects.

“Minimising the congestion in Bengaluru by driving the crowd to a comparatively cheaper cost-of-living city, the project will extend paths for new investments through industries, real estate, and educational institutions in Mysuru,” he said in a post on Twitter after the inspection.

The project is 117 km long, divided into two carriages one is Bengaluru to Nidagatta and Nidagatta to Mysore. In the first stretch, 52km is Greenfield consisting of five bypasses which will reduce traffic blocks in Bengaluru and create a hassle-free journey for all commuters. The total cost of the project is Rs9,000 crore.

Gadkari said that the project would be complete and set for inauguration by February 2023 end, adding that they would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate it.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will also take up the deepening of lakes as part of water conservation, Gadkari said. Land acquisition is a major challenge before the NHAI due to high land value, he pointed out. To minimise traffic congestion and pollution in Bengaluru, Gadkari recommended satellite townships along these highways.

“The new greenfield project – Bengaluru to Chennai Expressway for ₹17,000 crore will be ready by March 2024, a 285.3 km four-lane project will help save travel time,” Gadkari told reporters after inspecting the project at Vadaganahalli near Hoskote on the city outskirts. “This will also help avoid delays in passing through major towns and congested areas,” the minister added.

“This Bharatmala project in Karnataka covering 71.7 km will cost ₹5,069 crore,” Gadkari said.

“By making this road we will reduce the logistic costs. Already 231 km of construction is underway. By March 2024 we want to complete this project,” he added.

He also said an Amrit Mahotsav Bird Sanctuary and an Amrit Sarovar will also come up on this stretch. , the NHAI is taking up 8,005 km long projects in Karnataka worth ₹two lakh crore.

Mysuru Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pratap Simha on Wednesday urged Nitin Gadkari to name the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway after the river Cauvery.

The MP also wrote to the Union minister explaining why the 10-lane expressway deserves to be named after the river Cauvery.

In the letter, Simha wrote, “The partially opened 119-km 10-lane access-controlled Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway is being executed under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-l. The benefit from this expressway is multi-dimensional with economic growth, social inclusion and empowerment, environmental conservation and the like being the major highlights.”Simha further explained that many expressways across the country are named after sacred rivers.

“Expressways constructed or under construction in the country are named after the sacred rivers-like the Yamuna Expressway and the Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh and Narmada Expressway in Madhya Pradesh as rivers have shaped history, culture, traditions and faith in our country weaving their way through-giving life, hope and salvation- all at once,” Simha added.

However, former external affairs minister and BJP leader S M Krishna, in a letter to Gadkari, requested that the expressway be named after erstwhile Mysore king Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. The “visionary ruler” must be remembered by future generations, he said.