The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has given the green signal for building a flyover each at Edapally, Palarivattom, Vytilla and Kundanoor, to ease the traffic congestion at the four main junctions on the Edapally-Aroor stretch of the NH 47.
A detailed project report will have to be prepared now, taking into account the alignment of the proposed metro-rail project that passes through both Edapally and Vytilla.
At least two flyovers would have to be built in Vytilla to cater to the manifold increase in the number of vehicles once the integrated bus terminal and the multi-modal mobility hub come up on the north-eastern side of the junction.
The State government and MPs from the State had sought flyovers at the junctions, to ensure faster east-west and north-south connectivity in the city.
“The four flyovers, likely to be built in the east-west direction, have been included in phase seven of the National Highway Development Projects (NHDP),” said sources in the State Public Works Department.
Simultaneously, the Infrastructure Kerala Limited (Inkel) has submitted a feasibility report to the State government for a 16-km-long elevated flyover connecting Edapally with Aroor, they said.
Each kilometre of the four-lane flyover will cost over Rs.100 crore, incurring a total cost of over Rs 1,600 crore.
The passenger car units (PCUs) per day on the four-lane Edapally-Vytilla stretch had exceeded 40,000 many years ago, which demands the six-laning of the stretch.
This can be done by adding 3.5 metres to each side of the existing carriageway.
But even the four-laning work of the 10-km Vytilla-Aroor portion is encountering delays, despite land being acquired about a decade ago.
Sources in the NHAI said that it would be up to the agency that prepared the detailed project report for flyovers whether to have a single elevated structure in the place of the flyovers at the four junctions.
With the commissioning of the Vallarpadam container transhipment terminal, the container lorry traffic along the stretch also is expected to go up.
Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust N. Ramachandran said that even if 50 per cent of the containers from the terminal are transported through rail, six containers would have to be taken through roads every minute. “The narrow and crowded highways of the State will be unable to bear this traffic, ” he said.
