Bangalore's North-South Tunnel Road: October 2026 Status and What It Means for Buyers
A road that does not yet exist cannot be priced into a flat. That sums up the position of Bangalore's proposed underground link from Hebbal to Silk Board in October 2026. It has a preferred bidder, a long list of open questions and no signed contract, and the notes below separate what is settled from what is still being debated.
The Short Version for Home Buyers
Treat the tunnel as a possible bonus and never as the reason to pay more for a home. After an award, the tender allows 50 months of building, so even a decision in late 2026 pushes the opening beyond 2030. Delays are common on large urban tunnelling projects in India.
A home that already works on today's roads and metro lines is the safer purchase. If the tunnel does get built, the benefit arrives later and costs nothing extra up front.
How the Project Got Here
Karnataka's cabinet approved a tunnel from north to south in May 2025. The model is a private concession: a company designs, builds and runs the road, then hands it back. As much as 40% of building costs is to come from the state, and the company recovers its own share through tolls over 30 years.
The state's special-purpose company, B-SMILE (Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited), invited bids in July 2025. Four companies had submitted offers when the extended deadline closed in November 2025, and two cleared the technical evaluation. Financial bids were opened the next month, and the Adani Group came out cheapest for both parts of the road.
Why There Is No Contract Yet
Add the two cheapest offers and the total is Rs. 22,267 crore. The government had estimated Rs. 17,698 crore, which leaves the bids roughly Rs. 4,569 crore higher. Measured per package, the offers are around 24% above the estimate for the first and around 28% for the second.
A price that far over budget needs the cabinet's consent. So B-SMILE forwarded the file to the government in the final days of May 2026. By the beginning of October 2026, no announcement had come. Three routes remain open: bargain with the lowest bidder, raise the official estimate, or scrap the tender and begin again.
What Would Be Built
The plan is a twin-bore road with three lanes per direction, 16.75 km long overall. It starts at Hebbal's Esteem Mall junction and surfaces again near the Silk Board crossing. The job is tendered in two roughly equal parts:
- Part one runs south from Hebbal to the crossing of Race Course Road with Seshadri Road, with an estimate of Rs. 8,770 crore.
- Part two carries on from that point to Silk Board, with an estimate of Rs. 8,928 crore.
Cars, bikes and other motor vehicles will use it, and each will pay a toll whose rates will be set once the award is made. A much shorter underpass near the Hebbal junction, on the way to Mekhri Circle, is a different project altogether. A foundation stone for it went down in June 2026.
The Lalbagh Problem
The approved design needs about six acres of Lalbagh while work continues and roughly one acre in the end. Residents' and citizens' groups objected. The cabinet then withdrew, on 3 September 2026, legislation meant to let a small share of park land be put to public use.
Six days afterwards, the Chief Minister announced a request for alternatives to be studied. A change could shift the southern half of the route and the ramp positions. So the alignment is open, just as the price is.
What Commuters and Property Owners Would Actually Get
The goal is to bring a rush-hour journey of 90 minutes or longer down to around 35. Only motorists prepared to pay the toll would see that saving. Passengers on buses and the metro gain only when surface roads ease as a result.
Property is affected differently from the way a metro line affects it. A station draws pedestrians, retail and a catchment within walking distance. A tunnel passes beneath streets without stopping, so only the areas around its ramps gain access.
- A flat right above the alignment gains very little when no ramp is close.
- Roads beside a ramp may take extra vehicles.
- Living near a ramp site means years of noise, dust and traffic diversions.
Walking the Route from North to South
The north end is Hebbal, at the point where Bellary Road and the Outer Ring Road meet. The airport road and a flyover already serve the area, and a Blue Line station is being built. A buyer in North Bangalore can therefore judge homes here on what exists now.
The central stretch goes under Mekhri Circle, the Palace Grounds, Race Course Road and the heart of the city. Intermediate ramps would bring the heaviest building work here. It is also the section that would change most if the Lalbagh alignment is redrawn.
The tunnel ends at Silk Board, beside Koramangala and HSR Layout. Silk Board has the Yellow Line metro now, and the Blue Line is to start there. People weighing homes nearby can compare working transport with a tunnel that exists only on paper.
A Practical Checklist
Before paying a booking amount for a home pitched as "near the tunnel", run through these seven points:
- Ask if a contract has been signed and the final alignment notified.
- Pick out the closest ramp on the notified alignment and time the drive to it.
- Put the quoted price beside similar flats nearby that are not sold on the tunnel.
- Factor the toll in as a recurring expense.
- Test today's rush-hour commute, on the roads and on the metro.
- Expect disruption for years if the project is near a ramp site.
- Confirm the project's RERA record, title and khata first, as these matter more than a road that may never open.
