Bengaluru Tunnel Road: DPR Ready For Rs 16,500 Crore Project To Link Hebbal And Central Silk Board

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has finalised the detailed project report (DPR) for a major tunnel road project connecting Hebbal in the north to Central Silk Board Junction in the south.

The ambitious six-lane project, estimated at Rs 16,500 crore, will span 18 km and feature three key interchanges at Mehkri Circle, Race Course Road, and Lalbagh.

Impressively, BBMP prepared the DPR in just three months, well ahead of the typical 9–12 month timeframe for such projects.

To construct the tunnel road, BBMP plans to use six tunnel boring machines (TBMs) with diameters of 14.7 meters, significantly larger than the six-meter TBMs usually employed in metro projects.

"If relations with China continue to improve, we hope to directly import these TBMs, which could lower costs by 10 per cent compared to European machines," Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, adding that the goal is to begin the project within six months, reports Deccan Herald.

BBMP Engineer-in-Chief B S Prahlad stated that the project draws on lessons learned from similar underground road systems in cities like Mumbai. "At both entry and exit points, the tunnel road will branch out to alleviate potential traffic bottlenecks," he explained.

The design includes two entry and exit points at each end—at Central Silk Board on the southern side and near Hebbal Junction in the north—to manage traffic flow. Additional interchanges are planned at Lalbagh, Mehkri Circle, and Race Course Road to enhance connectivity along the route.

The BBMP plans to fund the tunnel road project through a public-private partnership (PPP), with 70 per cent of the cost covered by a private contractor and the remaining 30 per cent secured through other financing avenues.

BBMP’s expenditure on the DPR totaled Rs 9.5 crore, nearly five times what Namma Metro spent on a similar report for an underground metro line between Hebbal and Sarjapur Road.