The soon-to-be-built two-lane Pachalam overbridge will be as wide as the South bridge and Katrikadavu bridge (7.5 metre carriageway and 1.5 metre footpath) which cater to much more number of vehicles. It will have an inbuilt provision to be widened as four-lane when the need arises, the DMRC has said in a press release.
The bridge has been planned in such a way that in future, it would be possible to provide a future overbridge from SRM road to Chakkiyath area. The bridge under construction will not come in the way of future development of Ernakulam Railway Goods Station as passenger terminal or as EMU terminal station. DRMC has finalised the plan for the bridge and is executing it in such a way that the project can be completed in the minimum possible time and at the same time, all future proposals to further streamline traffic can be executed without hassles, it said.
The project for an elevated roundabout proposed here, having three ramps, was held up for 13 years because of the need for massive land acquisition. A four-lane bridge that was mooted later too needed plenty of land, whose acquisition would delay the bridge project. Under these circumstances, it was decided to go ahead with a two-lane bridge for now, as part of metro rail’s preparatory works.
