The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) has taken over from the Public Works Department (PWD) the project to develop Thammanam-Pullepady road as a four-lane road and to extend it to M.G. Road and the NH Bypass on either side.
The PWD (Roads wing) handed over files related to the project to KRFB earlier this month. This makes it the second road widening project in the district that the agency has taken over from the PWD. The first was the one to widen the 13-km-long Thripunithura S.N. Junction-Poothotta road at a cost of ₹628 crore, for which the detailed project report (DPR) is ready, and land acquisition is set to begin in May.
Need for overbridge
The PWD had completed survey to develop the Thammanam-Pullepady road in the third quarter of 2020. “The DPR preparation is in the final stage, following which it will be handed over to KIIFB for its permission. The land acquisition process can begin once it gives the go ahead.
The DPR will focus mainly on bridges that have to be widened and the design of junctions at Thammanam, Karnakodam, and Kathrikadavu. It will also shed light on whether an overbridge is needed to streamline traffic flow at the congested Kathrikadavu Junction,” official sources said.
The junction already has a bottlenecked two-lane bridge on the four-lane Kaloor-Kadavanthra road, perpendicular to the Thammanam-Pullepady road.
The permission of Railways ought to be sought to build a bridge parallel to Pullepady overbridge and the portion over the rails would have to be built under their supervision.
Cycle tracks?
The widening of the 3-km Thammanam-Pullepady road, its extension to Padma Junction on M.G. Road and to Chakkaraparambu on the NH Bypass are together estimated to cost around ₹300 crore, including the cost of land acquisition and bridges. The road will be 22 metres wide, having a 14-metre carriageway and a metre-wide median. It will be flanked by footpaths and utility ducts. Earmarking space for cycle tracks can be considered, sources said.
The list of people who surrendered their land free of cost had been handed over to the PWD by the Kochi Corporation.
The KIIFB is expected to take a call on whether to provide them compensation or to offer them relaxations while constructing buildings. The four-km road can be developed within a year of commencement of works, they added.
