Development of alternative roads ahead of Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension in limbo

Develop alternative roads to divert traffic from Civil Line Road & widen bottlenecked junctions for Kochi Metro's 11.20-km Kakkanad extension.

The long-overdue development of alternative roads to divert traffic from the Civil Line Road is in limbo, even as works to widen the road into a 22-m-wide corridor as part of Kochi metro’s 11.20-km Kakkanad extension have gained momentum.

The notoriously narrow and encroached upon roads that run parallel to Civil Line Road are even otherwise chock-a-block with vehicles that are caught on end in traffic hold-ups. Electric and overhead-cable posts that protrude into their tarred carriageway make matters worse.

Even as little effort has gone into developing alternative roads that take off from Edapally-Vyttila NH bypass, KMRL has installed direction boards on the bypass to guide motorists along these corridors, rather than travel all the way up to Palarivattom and turn eastward to Civil Line Road. The Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council (EDRAAC), merchant bodies and others have been critical of the State government not sanctioning adequate funds for the metro extension’s preparatory works like the development of alternative roads, unlike over a decade ago when substantial sums had been allotted to develop roads and build overbridges and flyovers.

The Vennala regional president of EDRAAC, T.N. Sajeev, said the metro’s impending Kakkanad extension was a golden opportunity to widen narrow and heavily encroached Palarivattom bypass, Chembumukku, Alinchuvadu, Padivattom and Vennala High School junctions, among others. “The PWD can easily develop the Vennala-Palachuvadu-Thuthiyur-Seaport Airport Road stretch as an alternative corridor, since traffic congestion will be acute when Civil Line Road is barricaded for the metro extension. On its part, the police must clamp down on obstructive parking,” he added.

A charter of 18 demands by EDRAAC, mostly regarding such acute traffic congestion issues, will be handed over to the State government to be taken up at the postponed Nava Kerala Sadas meeting that will be held here shortly. The other demands include the need for pedestrian underpasses at Edappally Junction, Palarivattom bypass and Chakkarapambu Junction where accidents involving pedestrians are high. The residents’ body has also been critical of inadequate/dysfunctional streetlights on the NH bypass and arterial city roads.

The government must take steps to widen bottlenecked junctions and roads that take off from the NH bypass, since areas on either side are seeing fast-paced residential and commercial development, said Rajesh Vennala, secretary of Vennala South Residents’ Association. “Most landowners are willing to surrender land, if they are compensated for. In addition, the government must take steps to ready a four-lane road that it envisaged a decade ago in the Chakkaraparambu-Arakkakadavu-Seaport Airport Road corridor.”

The KMRL has been pursuing with agencies concerned the urgent need to relocate posts, transformers and other utilities from Civil Line Road, said KMRL sources. Likewise, the PWD has been tasked with developing alternative roads. Matters would hopefully gain momentum once another round of stakeholder discussions are held, they added.