Caught in Limbo: After a decade, uncertainty still looms over Wind Tunnel Underpass

While the Bengaluru municipality dreams of building a 16.7-kilometer tunnel road, not even one percent of the work has been done on the 300-meter Wind Tunnel underpass on HAL Airport Road, which was planned 11 years ago.

Central City Corporation is eager to revitalize and complete the Wind Tunnel Interchange underpass. However, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) is not allowing work on the road, claiming that it would cripple at least five of the 10 worst traffic areas in Bengaluru.

Project history

In 2014, the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issued a work order to RNS Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. will redevelop the 16.5 km stretch of HAL Airport Road between ASC Junction and Hope Farm Junction at a cost of ₹ 135.25 crore.

The project has been planned to provide hassle-free transportation for passengers and cater to the increasing number of vehicles accessing the area. Under the plan, the road requiring underpasses at Kundalahalli Junction, Suranjan Das Junction and Wind Tunnel Junction would be made signal-free. After the Kundalahalli and Suranjan Das underpasses were extended many times, the municipality opened them in 2022 and 2023 respectively. However, the last of the three underpasses still remains.

Why is it important?

HAL Airport Road is an important link connecting Central and East Bengaluru. The alternative route is the Old Madras Road. However, according to the Traffic Police, vehicle numbers increased significantly after 2015 due to unprecedented developments in the eastern suburbs.

“We sometimes see rush hours extending by an hour on HAL Airport Road and Old Madras Road, both in the morning and evening hours. If we block even a small section of any of these roads, especially HAL Road, which houses many hospitals and connects to the Outer Ring Road, even the bystanders will be paralysed,” said a senior police officer from the eastern division.

According to the documents accessed HinduCivil society has requested BTP seven times in the last four years to allow the closure of this area for construction. Each request was rejected because no suitable alternative route was available.

According to BTP, even partial closure of the line could block Indiranagar 100 Feet Road, 80 Feet Road, Suranjan Das Road and Old Madras Road. All these roads witness slow-moving traffic during peak hours. Except for Suranjan Das Road, the remaining stretches also have traffic lights, which will further slow down movement. According to BTP, the main reason for this is that residents of Central and South-East Bengaluru will be deprived of alternative routes and will have to use these roads.

Despite these obstacles, the NGO and BTP explored an alternative in the form of a road between the southeast and east of Bengaluru, located within a private property owned by a prominent political figure. However, the public representative reportedly refused to allow traffic on the property.

new plan

An official from the Central City Corporation said: Hindu Within the NAL and ISRO campuses, there is a road running adjacent and parallel to the 300-meter area where the underpass is proposed. However, this distance is very close to a structure owned by ISRO and considered “sensitive”.

Now the civic body has chalked out yet another plan in which the stretch within NAL will be connected to another road within the ISRO campus, requiring a lengthy reroute before reconnecting to HAL Airport Road. “We have had several rounds of meetings with them and pinned all our hopes on their decision,” the official said.

Hindu It is learned that the Chief Commissioner of Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will also make a joint review with ISRO and NAL officials and submit the recommendation.

The municipality has already completed 40% of the project in terms of casting work. To go further, officials need to excavate the land, place 50-meter dumps, and then build ramps totaling 250 meters.

If BTP agrees to completely close the line, the work can be completed in 90 days. Civic officials said the project could take up to 195 days to complete if only partial closure is allowed.

However, uncertainty remains over the project as BTP will not allow construction until the non-governmental organization determines a suitable alternative route. Of the available options, none have worked so far.

(This is the fifth in a multi-part series)

It was published – 18 December 2025 21:26 IST