Bengaluru's long-pending Wind Tunnel underpass project on HAL Airport Road has made no real progress even after 11 years. The Central City Corporation wants to revive and finish the 300-metre underpass. But the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) keep denying permission to close the road for construction. They warn that the work could paralyse at least five of Bengaluru’s worst traffic hotspots. The project began in 2014 when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike ordered redevelopment of a 16.5-km stretch of HAL Airport Road at ₹135.25 crore. The plan included three underpasses to make the road signal-free: Kundalahalli, Suranjan Das, and Wind Tunnel junctions. While the first two underpasses opened in 2022 and 2023, the Wind Tunnel underpass remains stalled. HAL Airport Road is a vital link between Central and East Bengaluru. With vehicle numbers rising sharply since 2015, this road often faces long peak hour jams. A senior traffic officer said, "If we close even a small stretch of HAL Road, which houses many hospitals and links to the Outer Ring Road, even the bylanes will be paralysed." The civic body has asked the BTP seven times in four years to allow road closure for construction. Each time the request was rejected because there is no suitable alternative route. Closing the stretch could choke Indiranagar 100 Feet Road, 80 Feet Road, Suranjan Das Road, and Old Madras Road, all already traffic-heavy. The BTP explains that residents in Central and southeastern Bengaluru would have no other routes if HAL Airport Road is blocked. The city officials and police tried to use a private road property owned by a political figure as an alternative, but permission was denied. A new plan looks at routing construction traffic through roads inside the NAL and ISRO campuses. However, this passes close to a "sensitive" ISRO structure. The civic body hopes to finalize this after joint inspections with ISRO, NAL, and Greater Bengaluru Authority officials. Currently, 40% of the underpass casting work is done. To continue, officials must excavate land, lay castings over 50 metres, and build 250 metres of ramps. If the BTP allows a full road closure, the work could finish in 90 days; partial closure would take up to 195 days. But the project’s future remains uncertain. The BTP will not permit construction until a workable alternate route is identified. So far, none of the options have succeeded.