<p>Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said his ministry has expedited projects that will reduce travel time on Bengaluru-Chennai and Benglauru-Mumbai routes besides fast tracking the satellite township ring road (STRR).</p>.<p>He was speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day event organised to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing between the Centre and the states. "The Pune-Bengaluru is a greenfield highway. In Pune, it will connect with the existing expressway to Mumbai. The distance between Mumbai and Bengaluru will be reduced by 7 per cent and travel time will be cut to 6 hours. The Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will reduce the travel time between the two cities to 2 hours," he added.</p>.<p>Further, the minister said that land acquisition process has already begun for the Bengaluru-Kadapa-Vijayawada highway. "All these roads will improve connectivity to Bengaluru. I know that one of the major problems of Karnataka is the congestion in Bengaluru. I have discussed some solutions in this regard. The satellite township ring road (STRR) is going to connect all the highways that are entering the city," he said.</p>.<p>Speaking of the bypass facility envisaged by the 288 km STRR, he said the project has been divided into 10 packages of which five have been awarded and work on three was ongoing. "Once the road in Bannerghatta gets forest clearance, the project will pick up pace," he added.</p>.<p><strong>'4-laning of Shiradi Ghat soon'</strong></p>.<p>Asked about the disruptions in road connectivity to coastal Karnataka during the monsoon season, Gadkari said the proposal to wide the Shiradi Ghat road is on the cards. "We are waiting to get forest clearance for four-laning which I am told will happen soon," he said.</p>.<p>Regarding the proposal to build a tunnel in the hills of Western Ghats to overcome the problems of landslides in Shiradi Ghat, he said the ministry has chosen to adopt a coordinated approach.<br />"We are trying to work with the railways. If we build a road tunnel now and railways begin working on another tunnel in future, it is a waste of time and resources. Instead, if the railways also seeks to build a tunnel, we will take up the project at once," he said.</p>
<p>Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said his ministry has expedited projects that will reduce travel time on Bengaluru-Chennai and Benglauru-Mumbai routes besides fast tracking the satellite township ring road (STRR).</p>.<p>He was speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day event organised to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing between the Centre and the states. "The Pune-Bengaluru is a greenfield highway. In Pune, it will connect with the existing expressway to Mumbai. The distance between Mumbai and Bengaluru will be reduced by 7 per cent and travel time will be cut to 6 hours. The Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will reduce the travel time between the two cities to 2 hours," he added.</p>.<p>Further, the minister said that land acquisition process has already begun for the Bengaluru-Kadapa-Vijayawada highway. "All these roads will improve connectivity to Bengaluru. I know that one of the major problems of Karnataka is the congestion in Bengaluru. I have discussed some solutions in this regard. The satellite township ring road (STRR) is going to connect all the highways that are entering the city," he said.</p>.<p>Speaking of the bypass facility envisaged by the 288 km STRR, he said the project has been divided into 10 packages of which five have been awarded and work on three was ongoing. "Once the road in Bannerghatta gets forest clearance, the project will pick up pace," he added.</p>.<p><strong>'4-laning of Shiradi Ghat soon'</strong></p>.<p>Asked about the disruptions in road connectivity to coastal Karnataka during the monsoon season, Gadkari said the proposal to wide the Shiradi Ghat road is on the cards. "We are waiting to get forest clearance for four-laning which I am told will happen soon," he said.</p>.<p>Regarding the proposal to build a tunnel in the hills of Western Ghats to overcome the problems of landslides in Shiradi Ghat, he said the ministry has chosen to adopt a coordinated approach.<br />"We are trying to work with the railways. If we build a road tunnel now and railways begin working on another tunnel in future, it is a waste of time and resources. Instead, if the railways also seeks to build a tunnel, we will take up the project at once," he said.</p>