Call to streamline traffic on S.N. Junction-Thripunithura stretch

‘Road near metro work sites being blocked at night as part of civil work’

The road near the railway overbridge at Thripunithura where the Kochi metro construction work is in progress.

Residents associations and motorists have demanded that Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) take urgent steps to streamline traffic on the Pettah-SN Junction-Thripunithura railway station stretch where the Kochi metro work is under way, and prevent accumulation of slush and waterlogging on M.K.K. Nayar Road near the alignment.

The Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Associations (TRURA), which has been at the forefront of agitations demanding road connectivity between the metro’s terminal station proposed near the railway station and the road leading from Hill Palace to Thripunithura town, expressed concern at traffic hold-ups on the Pettah-S.N. Junction stretch, especially in the vicinity of a building and transformer. A litigation is going on, and it has resulted in there being no footpath and drainage, while the road narrows down, said TRURA president V.P. Prasad.

Motorists have been complaining of how they have to take alternative routes when the road near metro work sites is blocked at night as part of the civil work.

“KMRL should have readied drains and footpaths before barricading work sites for piling. This would have smoothened traffic flow on the busy stretch. Many landowners had given consent letter permitting advance possession of their plots,” Mr. Prasad said.

He further reiterated TRURA’s demand that the metro agency and the Thripunithura Municipality prevent possible congestion when commuters of the metro and those relying on the bus stand proposed nearby converge, by establishing wide road connectivity from Thripunithura town. “Furthermore, the National Highways Authority of India [NHAI], State government, and MPs must speed up finalising of the [revised] alignment of the Kochi-Dhanushkodi NH,” he said.

On slushy roads and hassles to free movement of vehicles caused by metro work on the SN Junction-Thripunithura stretch, Pratap Babu, a resident of MKK Nayar Road said the delay in reconstructing drains had resulted in the area getting flooded even in moderate rainfall. “Subsequently, over 50 families who reside here and many others use alternative roads.”

Sources in KMRL said the construction of drains on the Pettah-S.N. Junction stretch was over. Steps to mititage hardships, if any, to residents and motorists beyond the corridor will be taken as soon as possible, they added.