The demand to widen the narrow road at Parkala here will take more time to get fulfilled.
The road, which is about 500 metres, causes traffic jams during peak hours in the mornings and evenings.
This road is located on the Malpe-Molkalmuru State Highway, which been handed over to the National Highways Department and named as National Highway 169A.
Parkala village is located at the Eastern end of Udupi and comes under the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC). Most of the city buses from Udupi moving towards Manipal have Parkala as their final destination. Buses and trucks going to Karkala, Hebri, Tirthahalli and Shivamogga use this road, which means that they have to pass through the Parkala bottleneck.
People also visit Manipal for educational and health purposes and they too have pass through it.
Two heavy vehicles from opposite directions have to struggle to pass through this narrow stretch. There is hardly any place for pedestrians to walk through this bottleneck when the heavy vehicles pass through it.
“It is necessary to widen this road for the benefit of both vehicles and pedestrians. The bottleneck leads to lot of traffic snarls,” said Vishweshwara Parkala, artist.
About four years ago, during the platinum jubilee celebrations of Udupi CMC, the council tried to widen this Manipal-Parkala Road, which was then part of the Malpe-Molkalmuru State highway.
It decided to acquire the land and give compensation to the land-losers. This process took about three years.
When the process was about to be completed, the government handed over the Malpe-Molkalmuru State Highway to the National Highways Department to be upgraded.
“Nearly 75 per cent of the process related to acquisition and compensation had been completed. But once the road was handed over to the NH Department, CMC withdrew from it. People are all for the widening of the road,” said municipal councillor Sumitra R. Nayak.
P. Yuvaraj, CMC president, said that the council would approach Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje and request her to pressure the Centre to expedite the widening of the road.
“But starting the process again will take more time,” said Ms. Nayak.
Meanwhile, C. Nataraj, Executive Engineer, National Highways Division, Mangaluru, said that any widening work on Udupi-Tirthahalli National Highway 169A would take at least six months to commence.
