NHAI reluctant to take over Vyttila, Kundannoor flyovers from PWD

NHAI expresses inability to take over sinking flyovers at Vyttila and Kundannoor due to safety concerns and maintenance issues.

Even as National Highway 66 corridors on either end of the Edappally-Aroor NH bypass are getting ready for commissioning by 2026, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has expressed inability to take over from the Public Works department (NH wing) the upkeep of the six-lane flyovers at Vyttila and Kundannoor that were built by the PWD.

The approach spans of the sister flyovers that were commissioned in 2021 are settling (sinking), and the PWD ought to raise and restore them before handing them over to the NHAI, considering the safety of motorists using the structures, official sources said, citing the reason for the NHAI that owns the NH Bypass not yet taking possession of the two flyovers.

The adjacent expansion joints of the sinking parts, too, must be repaired to prevent motorists from having a bumpy ride at the entry and exit of the flyovers that were built to decongest the two bottlenecked junctions on the Edapally-Aroor NH Bypass. These two are among the prime reasons for the NHAI’s reluctance to take over the flyovers despite the expiry of their three-year defect liability period in 2024. The PWD is also yet to respond to letters sent by NHAI in this regard, it is learnt.

On its part, the Vyttila Vikasana Samithi has been pointing to safety issues in the form of inadequate/nil street lights on the approach to Vyttila flyover from the Palarivattom side, with the result that speeding motorists are unable to gauge the approach to the three-lane-wide flyover and the two-lane-wide service road. This often results in accidents, including vehicles ramming the flyover’s crash barrier.

The PWD is also found wanting in not lessening the extent of the medians and the massive roundabout beneath the Vyttila and the Kundannur flyovers, despite multiple decisions taken in this regard since 2021. “The execution of the two works is crucial to streamline traffic movement beneath the ‘unscientifically designed’ flyovers,” said sources in the traffic police.

Stating that the approach spans of many flyovers and overbridges in Kochi are encountering the issue of sinking/settling due to the predominantly clayey soil in the region, senior PWD officials said that this aspect does not find mention in a ₹1-crore project that the PWD (NH wing) had submitted before the State government over two years ago to decongest Vyttila. “There is no structural issue so far. Administrative sanction has not been granted even for this project that was intended to chip away considerable portions of the massive medians and the roundabout beneath the flyover, to prevent traffic hold-ups and to tar coat the chipped away portion,” they added.