The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Flyover projects hanging fire

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Monday, Jun 08, 2009
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Flyover projects hanging fire

Staff Reporter

Photo: Vipin Chandran

Crowded JUNCTION: Traffic at a snail’s pace at Vytilla Junction. —

KOCHI: The National Highways Authority of India has not made any headway on the proposal to construct flyovers at the congested Edapally, Palarivattom, Vytilla and Kundanoor junctions on NH 47.

The flyovers were mooted around five years ago, as a solution to motorists waiting in serpentine queues and having to inch ahead, to make their way through traffic that gets unmanageable during peak times at the four junctions. Of late, the queues have begun to extend over half-a-kilometre on all the sides at each junction.

Apart from huge amounts of fuel that are wasted and the ensuing pollution, motorists entering into tiffs with one another over the ‘right of way’, too are becoming common.

The Authority’s lack of foresight and planning has resulted in the free-left turns having inadequate width. Thus, vehicles intending to take a free-left turn too are forced to wait endlessly in the queue.

An example is the Palarivattom bypass junction, where the narrow free-left turns continue to be bottlenecks, despite the Authority spending Rs. 27 lakh to widen them by relocating the footpaths. The free-left turn on the south-eastern side of the Edapally bypass junction too is extremely narrow, despite there being ample land that could be acquired beyond the footpath.

Indiscriminate parking on the north-western side of Vytilla Junction impedes the movement of vehicles intending to take a left turn. None of the junctions have a ‘reserve lane’, for parking vehicles awaiting the signal to take a right-angled turn.

An NHAI official said that the flyover projects are awaiting the nod from the Union Surface Transport Ministry. “A detailed project report is yet to be prepared. Everything would depend on pressure exerted on the Ministry by people’s representatives and the State Government. The flyovers are likely to be built along the highway, linking the north with the south, so that highway users need not wait for the signal at the junction.”

The ineptitude of the sponsors in carrying out timely repairs on the electronic-signal systems at the junctions has further compounded motorists’ woes. The electronic timer boards too have become dysfunctional, with the result that motorists have to wait with the clutch pressed on. This causes immense wastage of fuel and also air pollution.

Even basic road markings like pedestrian lines, the ‘stop line’ beyond which vehicles should not park and the intermittent lines that divide the lanes are absent at the four junctions.

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