Bengaluru's Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) will have Karnataka's first boothless toll plaza.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: Vehicles using the Doddaballapur-Hoskote section of the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) will have to pay the toll from November 17 onwards.
The 288-km Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) is being constructed to link Bengaluru with neighbouring towns such as Dobbspet, Devanahalli, Hoskote and Ramanagara.
Once fully ready, it will eliminate the need for long-distance commercial vehicles to enter Bengaluru. Traffic moving between satellite towns will also be able to bypass the city.
Credit: DH Graphic
The Rs 17,000-crore project is being developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in 10 packages.
Of the 10 packages, the Doddaballapur bypass-Hoskote section (34.15 km) has been completed. It has four lanes with 10,000 Passenger Car Unit (PCU) per hour.
Toll charges for this section were notified in the gazette of India on November 2. The NHAI approved them on November 9.
Light motor vehicles will be charged Rs 70 for a single trip and Rs 105 for a round trip within 24 hours. Buses and trucks will pay Rs 240 and Rs 360, respectively.
"Toll rates will remain in force until March 31, 2024, and will be collected at the Nalluru toll plaza (near Devanahalli)," KB Jayakumar, Project Director, NHAI Bengaluru, told DH.
While two-wheelers will be exempted from paying the toll, the NHAI will crack down on wheelies, he added.
Boothless toll plaza
The STRR will have Karnataka's first boothless toll plaza, meaning there will be no manned toll counters, according to Jayakumar.
"A vehicle's number plate and weight will be scanned as soon as it reaches within 50 metres of the toll plaza. If the toll is paid through FASTag and everything else is in order, the boom barrier will open and the vehicle will be let out," Jayakumar explained.
Vehicles without FASTag will have to make a roundabout to pay the toll in cash. Those carrying 105% of their permissible weight will be levied a 10-fold penalty and made to unload before being allowed to proceed, he added.
The 42-km Dobbspet-Doddaballapur section is 90% complete and will be ready in January 2024, and toll collection will start in February. Construction on the 21-km Hoskote-Tamil Nadu border section is 13% complete, Jayakumar said.
The TN border-Obalapura stretch (179.93 km) is under construction or bidding.