At last, the 41.5-km stretch of the six-lane Outer Ring Road (ORR) has got some much-needed illumination at night, with the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) electrifying the streetlights on the motorway.
After nightfall, darkness used to engulf ORR as streetlights in most of the stretches were not functional as they had not been electrified because of incomplete civil works. The Hindu had carried a report a while ago on the plight of commuters on this key carriageway.
“Almost all the streetlights have been functional for over a month now. About 90 per cent of streetlight operations has been stabilised. The mobile vans regularly check their functioning,” said MUDA Commissioner M. Mahesh.
He said the complaints of darkness will be a thing of the past now. “After the ORR was formally inaugurated recently, we took up the electrification work,” he explained. The streetlight poles required fresh wiring and new poles had to be installed in some stretches, he said. He added that MUDA had been waiting for the widening work to be completed before electrifying all the streetlights.
Both commuters and residents of layouts located along ORR had been calling for functional streetlights for their safety, especially of women. Moreover, ORR is a key carriageway for goods-laden trucks as it connects highways to various important cities, including Bengaluru.
Though streetlights were installed all through ORR, they were functional only on the stretch between Bannur Road and Columbia Asia Hospital Junction on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway.
The decision to upgrade ORR into a six-lane road was taken in view of the rising vehicular traffic. The project cost around Rs. 300 crore, with the Centre contributing 80 per cent of the amount and MUDA and the State government chipping in with the rest.
The delay in project completion was attributed to legal entanglements and technical issues. Work on the missing stretch of ORR between Bannur and Nanjangud Road, measuring 9.14 km, too was completed.
