Demand to ensure pedestrian safety in front of shopping mall on Vyttila-Kundannoor NH Bypass

Concerns over pedestrian safety on Vyttila-Kundannoor NH 66 Bypass due to new mall opening. Demand for foot overbridge w/ lifts/escalators & vehicle-calming measures like blinkers & street lights. Maradu municipality convened meeting to permit one-way traffic, install no-parking boards, barricades, & high-mast lights.

The opening of a new shopping mall on the Vyttila-Kundannoor NH 66 Bypass a fortnight ago has raised concerns about pedestrian safety on the six-lane corridor where vehicles zoom past at high speeds.

With pedestrians, most of whom are visitors to the mall, often being forced to wave down vehicles in order to cross the highway and get to the other side of the stretch, demand is rife that a well-lit foot overbridge having lifts or escalators on both sides be built to ensure their safety. There are others who risk their life and literally jaywalk through the highway.

Police and Motor Vehicles department (MVD) officials said a foot overbridge across the highway was located quite a distance from the mall, at Kannadikkad. Although it was built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) following a spree of pedestrian deaths, it is very steep and does not have escalators or lifts. Even worse, it does not have lights on it, making it risky to use at night.

“Apart from a pedestrian-friendly foot overbridge, there is need for vehicle-calming measures such as blinkers and adequate number of street lights on the highway and its service roads,” they added.

The central medians must be extensively barricaded to prevent jaywalking by pedestrians, which posed risk to both their life and that of motorists who might lose control of their vehicles, said Sajeev Kumar, a commuter.

The demand is also rife that the NHAI cover wide, open drains on the service road in front of the mall to prevent pedestrians and vehicles from falling into the drains, or at least erect crash barriers to demarcate the drains.

The Maradu municipality had a week ago convened a meeting of stakeholders, including traffic police personnel and mall officials, wherein it was decided to permit only one-way traffic on service roads on the Kundannoor-Kannadikkad stretch. It was also decided to install no-parking boards on the highway and service roads, to install barricades to prevent accidents and to paint pedestrian lines on the highway, said municipal chairman Antony Ashanparambil.