Frequent flooding of the narrow, ill-maintained underpass at Vyttila is worsening traffic hold-ups on the service roads of the National Highway Bypass.
“It is high time that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stepped in and raised drains to the level of the tarred road along the underpass so that light vehicles could go in either direction. The Authority must also prevent the falling of mud and stones into the drains by covering drains on service roads,” said Sunitha Dixon, councillor of Kochi Corporation’s Vyttila ward.
The long-term solution to preventing the flooding of the underpass and the service road on the eastern side is to construct a culvert on the service road so that water could drain into the canal located further east of the road. The NHAI has been dithering to construct a wider underpass north of the existing one though land is available. “This new pathway would have enabled smooth movement of one-way traffic through both the existing and proposed underpasses,” she said.
Ms. Dixon said snarls on either side of the underpass caused traffic hold-ups on RSAC Road, Kaniampuzha Road, NH Bypass and Thammanam-Vyttila Road. Both traffic signal junctions in Vyttila were affected as a result.
The situation remains more or less the same though two traffic policemen have been deployed to regulate traffic near the underpass. “Our sole hope now is the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) which has assured help to build a new underpass,” she said.
