Faster drive for Mangalore airport

The much awaited road to the Mangalore airport, which would reduce the distance to the Bajpe airport by eight kilometers, along with giving connection to the new terminal, is finally ready. This new road would be handed over to the Airports Authority of India or AAI, after energizing it. This road would allow traffic as the new terminal of the Bajpe airport is ready. The new terminal is expected to facilitate passenger traffic in September as per the airport director, B R Sena. Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation or KUIDFC, executive engineer,

Syed Elyas Pasha stated that the work for the two-lane road was complete. He added that power supply has to be given to the lights on the road. As Mescom provides it, this road would be handed over to AAI. There was also some pending work on the road including placing markings so that it could be used for two-way traffic. All these minor tasks would be over within a couple of days. According to sources, the final cost of the project was Rs 7.9 crore, which is almost a crore less than the estimated cost. The sources of AAI said the road would be used as a one-way route for vehicles exiting the airport.

The Dakkan Park Road, which was built with the help of the local panchayat, would be used as another entry for the airport. Linking this new road to the airport had been the state government's infrastructure gift to the airport expansion project. This plan had included the construction of two km of four-lane roads, which would operate from state highway 66A on the Mangalore-Bajpe Road. The other road was from Malavoor Railway Bridge and this was done using the Asian Development Bank loan through KUIDFC. The estimated at Rs 8.89 crore road project also included strengthening of the existing PWD road, which is about 1.125 kilometers. Another new road was constructed, and was about 875 meter in length, extending from Kenjar Village junction to new Bajpe airport terminus. The road had been mired in controversy ever since it was conceptualized two years earlier. This happened because of gradient problems in the alternate roads from state highway 66A and another via Dakkan Park. The KUIDFC added that they had been unable to meet the Indian Road Congress or IRC specifications on the Dakkan Park approach. They were not able to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization or ICAO requirements on the Kenjaru Village approach road. However, the work was taken up by KUIDFC after it was provided an alternative horizontal arrangement and vertical profile with the steep gradient. Hence the alternate road via Kenjaru was converted to two-lane section, from four lanes, which had also been due to the specifications of unscientific excavation of a hillock by private groups.