Trumpet interchange to take off soon

Chennai/Bangalore: The trumpet-shaped interchange, which links the new Bangalore International Airport with the National Highway (Bangalore-Hyderabad section), will be completed by March 25, five days before the airport becomes operational.

L&T, which holds a 17 per cent stake in Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which will operate the new airport, took over the construction of the trumpet-shaped interchange after the state delayed its construction.

“We took over the project six months ago. We are working on it round the clock. We expect the interchange to be ready by the time the airport opens. We estimate the construction cost to be around Rs 120 crore,” L&T President (Construction) K V Rangaswamy told reporters here.

Though work on the new airport began close to two years ago, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could not complete the trumpet-shaped interchange due to various reasons.

The BIAL stepped in and directed L&T to take over the project in view of the urgency.

The traffic signal-free interchange is the main access to the new airport. The airport is located at a distance of 5 km from the National Highway.

The 4-lane approach road is being developed by BIAL, parallel to the runway, linking the National Highway to the passenger terminal complex. It will also link the other airport support facilities.