Traffic reforms fail to decongest Vyttila

Demand for fast-tracking ₹1-crore Vyttila Junction redevelopment project grows due to traffic congestion despite recent reforms.

With huge traffic snarls continuing at Vyttila Junction and on roads leading to the junction on Friday and Saturday despite traffic reforms introduced jointly by the police and the Motor Vehicles department (MVD), there is increasing demand from NGOs, bus operators, and others to fast-track the ₹1-crore project to redevelop the junction where six roads converge.

As one who observed traffic flow through the junction on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Thampy V.R., chairman of Vyttila United Forum, said the recent installation of barricades at the junction on the eastern end of S.A. Road to demarcate the free left turn had resulted in the formation of a serpentine queue of vehicles. “It is high time that stakeholders, including the National Highways Authority of India, Kochi Corporation, and the Public Works department sat together with the police and the MVD and chalked out steps like the widening of free left turns to decongest the junction rather than install barricades. This, and the hewing out of U-turns beneath the flyover on its Palarivattom and Kundannoor sides and also on the eastern and western sides, will help seamlessly streamline the flow of vehicles that now need to wait for multiple signal changes to criss cross the junction. Decision-makers must learn from what such a reform helped decongest Palarivattom Bypass Junction, where a pair of U-turns beneath the flyover helped do away with the signal system,” he said.

Socio-political activist Foji John demanded that the police penalise private buses and others that block the free-left turn from Alappuzha towards SA Road and at the eastern end of SA Road by parking right at the turning. “On their part, the NHAI, the PWD [NH wing], Kochi Corporation, and the PWD [Roads wing] must take urgent steps to clear bottlenecks and widen all free-left turns.”

As had been decided by the MVD and other agencies at a meeting called by the Transport Minister, the extent of the massive medians beneath the six-lane flyover must be reduced and a pair of U-turns carved out through the ample unused space beneath the flyover. In addition, high-mast lights must be installed at the accident-prone Thykoodam Junction, where vehicles take U turn, he added.

Traffic reforms by the MVD and the police that yielded results at Kalamassery and Edappally have failed at Vyttila, said K.B. Suneer, an office-bearer of the Private Bus Operators’ Association (PBOA). “The recent reforms has resulted in the queue of vehicles from Vyttila sometimes extending all the way up to Elamkulam. Apart from widening the bell mouths at Vyttila Junction, the Vyttila Mobility Hub Society [VMHS] and other agencies concerned must take steps to make optimal use of the 25-acre mobility hub premises to streamline the entry and exit of buses and other vehicles.”

Meanwhile, a senior MVD official said the short-term plan to redevelop Vyttila Junction could be implemented only if the State government approved a ₹1-crore project that the PWD had submitted. “It was aimed lessening the extent of the medians and the roundabout beneath the flyover, so that this space can be added to the carriageway,” he added.

The junction-development plan will be discussed at a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, it is learnt.