Bengaluru’s Satellite town ring road to be ready by Dec

The long-pending 288 km-long Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR, NH 948A), designed to tackle traffic congestion in silicon city, finally seems to be creaking towards closure.The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), responsible for executing the Rs 17,000-crore corridor, told that the project will be completed by December 2025. Initially proposed in 2005, the project gained momentum after it was incorporated into the Centre's Bharatmala Pariyojana in 2017. In June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the STRR, which is being executed under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM).About 85 percent of the road — 243 km — runs through Karnataka, and the remaining 45 km passes through Tamil Nadu. The four-six-lane, access-controlled expressway will link 12 satellite towns in Karnataka: Dobbaspet, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Sulibele, Hoskote, Sarjapur, Attibele, Anekal, Tattekere, Kanakapura, Ramanagara, Hosur, and Magadi. An access-controlled expressway has limited and designated entry and exit points to ensure rapid movement.According to NHAI officials, the project's construction is divided into nine sections, and work is already underway in four. The contracts for the rest are expected to be awarded by December 2023. The first 80 km section is expected to be inaugurated by December 2023.