Work on Tumkur-Shimoga road widening to begin soon

The work on widening the Tumkur-Shimoga stretch of National Highway 206 into four-lane will begin soon, Minister for Public Works H.C. Mahadevappa has said.

“The project cost for widening this 185-km stretch is estimated to be Rs. 1,500 crore. The Union government has agreed to release funds. It work will be implemented on engineering, procurement and construction basis,” he told presspersons here on Wednesday.

Similarly, the Chitradurga-Shimoga stretch of National Highway 13 would be widened into two-lane. An amount of Rs. 326 crore would be spent for widening this 140 km stretch. Tenders had been floated and the government had issued the work order, he said.

The Union government had agreed to upgrade the State highway connecting Tirthahalli town and Udupi via Agumbe ghat into a national highway. The width of this road would be increased from 5.5 metre to 10 metre.

“The work is estimated to cost Rs. 1,454 crore,” he said.

Karnataka received Rs. 1,000 crore under Central Road Fund this year. It would be used for maintenance of 2,000 km of roads, he said.

The State government had earmarked Rs. 2,400 crore for the Karnataka State Highway Development Project (KSHDP).

The first phase of widening and upgrading of 1,234 km roads under KSHDP would be completed soon. Another 4,000 km roads would be upgraded in the second phase, he said.