Palarivattom flyover to be opened by month end

Junction development suffers as landowners move court.

Though the Palarivattom flyover is expected to be commissioned by the month end, the widening of Palarivattom bypass junction is in limbo since a few landowners have filed cases challenging land acquisition.

The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) proposal to widen 150-metre-long stretches on eastern and western sides of the junction to four-lane ran into rough weather after the landowners, some of whom did not leave the mandatory clearance while constructing buildings, approached the court and obtained stay orders, said officials in the agency.

The widening work will invariably be carried out when land is acquired to widen the entire Palarivattom-Collectorate Junction corridor to four-lane, prior to beginning piling for Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension, they said.

Waiting for CM’s date

As for the six-lane, around 600-m-long flyover, tarring is going on while works like mandatory road markings, installation of signboards and reflectors are pending. “We have sent an invitation and are awaiting a date convenient for the Chief Minister to inaugurate the structure,” the officials added.

Thirty-seven posts having LED lights have been installed. Painting work too is going on. Steel crash barriers will be installed on the ramp and around the two central piers. Similarly, barricades will be removed and replaced with kerb stones along the 700-m-long outer periphery of the bridge, to prevent encroachments and parking beneath the structure.

Keeping in mind the possibility of landscaping, the area within will be filled with mud.

The RBDCK and the contracting firm RDS had invited public wrath for shabby upkeep of the NH Bypass when work on the flyover was carried out over a two-year period.

“We will pave the potholed junction using concrete blocks and also install five flood lights beneath the central span,” the officials said.