Call to widen service road on eastern side of Vyttila

Traffic arrangement sought on the lines of Palarivattom Junction

Close on the heels of former Principal Advisor to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) E. Sreedharan suggesting a traffic arrangement like beneath the Palarivattom flyover to ensure smooth and signal-free movement of vehicles at Vyttila Junction, PWD engineers and experts have cited the urgent need to add a lane or two to the service road on the eastern side of the Vyttila flyover to enable it.

As per the Metroman’s suggestion, creating U-turns on either side of the central spans of the flyover will ensure continuous flow of vehicles in different directions, as in Palarivattom, where the signal system was done away with after the DMRC rebuilt the damaged flyover.

“An estimate for widening the bottlenecked service road which caters for over 20% of traffic that passes through Vyttila had been submitted to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB). It has to be seen whether the work will be executed using State government funds or by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) since the latter owns the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass,” official sources said.

Minimal land acquisition will be needed on the eastern side of the junction to ensure seamless and steady flow of vehicles as in Palarivattom Junction. The free left turn on the western side of the junction, from SA Road, too must be widened, since traffic from six major roads and innumerable side roads converge at Vyttila. A similar augmenting of the carriageway of service roads will work wonders to clear traffic snarls and chaos at Kundannur Junction also, where four roads converge, they added.

Land acquisition can be speeded up if the government announced a special package for the two junctions, as was done for the Kochi metro. Apart from ensuring steady flow of vehicles, the widening of the two junctions will help ensure the safety of pedestrians, who now have to risk their life to cross them.

PWD sources said the State government was dilly dallying on taking a decision, even as the department submitted short- and long-term proposals to decongest the two junctions which cater for over 1 lakh passenger car units daily.