As part of the expansion of the National Highway (NH), 334 km of road stretches now under the Public Works Department (PWD) in Kerala will be declared as NH.
The 10 corridors approved in-principle by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways include the 26-km Kannur- Mattannnur road that links the upcoming Kannur international airport.
The 45-km that links the ambitious Vizhinjam International Multi-purpose Deepwater Seaport to the NH 66 bypass from Kazhakuttam to Karode in Tamil Nadu that is being four-laned and the NH 66 Karamana- Kaliyikkavila figure in the list.
The 55-km from Kannur to Madikeri- Virajpet- Makutta is the longest corridor to make it to the NH network. The 50-km corridor of NH 766 near Kalpetta connecting Manathavady to H.D. Hote-Jayapura and terminating in Mysuru is another corridor to get the NH tag.
The 30-km Alappuzha- Changanacherry stretch, the 18-km corridor from Changanacherry to Karukachal to Vazhoor on the NH 183 and the 25-km stretch from Pampa to Laha in Pathanamthitta district figure in the list.
The stretch from Kayamkulam on NH 66 to NH 183 near Thiruvalla (23 km), the 45-km corridor from Vijaypuram to Oonukal and the 17-km from NH 183 A near Adoor up to Titanium junction Chavara via Bharanikavu will now form part of the NH network.
The in-principle decision to increase the NH network is based on the recommendation of the State government two years ago, official sources told The Hindu . Formalities such as preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) has commenced for adding the 334-km stretches.
With the 10 corridors making it to the NH network, the present 1,781-km NH corridors in the State will go up to 2,115 km. Once the stretch is declared NH by the Union Ministry, the development will be carried out as per the NH specification stipulated by Indian Roads Congress.
A 11-point criteria is the basis for the declaration of the State Highways and State roads as NH. The main criteria is that the existing RoW should be the property of the State and must be generally free from encroachments.
The RoW required (preferably 45 m, minimum 30 m) must be available for acquiring, free of encroachments and the State would have to complete acquisition formalities within six months. If additional ROW is required, the state should have to complete the acquisition expeditiously after sanctioning of estimates.
