Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the much-awaited Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway on March 12, Union minister Pralhad Joshi tweeted Tuesday. A preliminary meeting regarding Modi’s visit to Karnataka on March 12 was held at the BJP office in Bengaluru.

The expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to just 90 minutes and also act as a catalyst for investment and industrial development in the region. The 117-km expressway was built at a cost of Rs 8,408 crore in two packages. Of the total length, 52 km is a greenfield consisting of five bypasses to reduce traffic congestion. Earlier, Union Road minister Nitin Gadkari said the Bengaluru-Mysuru corridor is a 10-lane project wherein four lanes – two lanes on either side have been proposed for villages and towns attached to the highway, while six lanes would connect the cities directly.

The authorities have already opened five bypasses between Bengaluru and Mysuru — the 7-km Srirangapatna bypass, 10-km Mandya bypass, a 7-km section that bypasses Bidadi, a 22-km section that bypasses Ramanagaram and Channapatna and a 7-km section that bypasses Maddur.

The expressway project, however, was in the news for several controversial reasons. An underpass near the Ramanagara section of the expressway was submerged after heavy rainfall during the monsoon, last year. Last week, farmers and residents of nearby villages blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway for more than two hours, demanding for an underpass near Hanakere in Karnataka’s Mandya district. The protesters parked bullock carts on the highway and threatened to continue the protest indefinitely if the underpass construction was not initiated immediately.

Meanwhile, the NHAI Monday decided to defer the toll collection on Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway till March 14. The NHAI had earlier announced that toll collection on the 55-km Bengaluru-Nidaghatta stretch would begin at 8 am Tuesday (February 28). The NHAI had released a toll chart for different types of vehicles. Light motor vehicles like cars were to pay Rs 135 for a one-way journey and Rs 205 if returning on the same day. After the opening of the second stretch, the toll fee for cars, jeeps, and vans may come up to Rs 250, which the critics have called as ‘unjustified’. On Tuesday, the Bidadi unit of the Congress staged a protest near the Sheshagirihalli toll gate, attacking the state government over ‘shoddy’ work. The protesters complained about incomplete service roads, lack of basic facilities like toilets on the expressway, and a pending skywalk, among others.