The State government or the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will have to acquire land on the eastern side of the Vyttila flyover and carve out at least one more additional lane to ensure smooth flow of vehicles from the NH Bypass towards S.A. Road and Thripunithura, experts have said.
It is because only vehicles moving straight along the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass, which together constitute approximately 50% of vehicles traversing the junction, will use the six-lane flyover. The rest will continue to depend on the road beneath the structure, which is slated for commissioning by June. They include vehicles taking a turn at the junction and those proceeding in the east-west direction (S.A. Road-Thripunithura stretch) and back, said a senior Public Works Department (PWD) official.
A senior department official explained how the government and the PWD ought to have planned the flyover better, making optimal use of the space available on the NH Bypass and service roads at the junction. “This could have been achieved if the flyover designers and other stakeholders had not insisted on a perfectly straight structure,” the official said. The net effect is that the flyover will choke the movement of vehicles all along the eastern (Thripunithura) side, where the width tapers down to less than five metres at many points. This is in contrast to the approximately three-lane (over 10 metres wide) space available on the western (S.A. Road) side, he added.
“The sole way out is to acquire land to open one more lane [with 3.5 metres width] on the eastern side,” said an expert who is associated with the flyover project. “Land acquisition will be minimal for the lane since there are reports that encroachers have set up shop well into the footpath of the NH Bypass at many places here. The bottleneck is acute in the vicinity of the temple on the southern side of the junction. Minimal land acquisition will also decongest the bell-mouth at the entry to the Vyttila Mobility Hub,” he observed.
The demand to widen roads on the eastern side of the flyover is relevant in view of the fact that approximately one lakh passenger car units (PCUs) use the junction daily. Only half of them will use the flyover, necessitating continued reliance on signal lights for traffic moving in different directions.
Proposals submitted to the government for clearing encroachments and acquiring land on the eastern side remain on paper, probably because the State is hard-pressed for funds.
The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) should ideally set apart funds for the purpose and to kick-start the second-phase development work at the junction, which include an underpass linking S.A. Road and Vyttila-Thripunithura Road. Before this, road medians will have to be redone and the watch tower of the traffic police relocated to ensure smooth movement of vehicles at the junction, sources said.
