NH Bypass to be widened into six-lane

The entire Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass will be widened into a six-lane stretch, considering the steep increase in vehicular traffic on the 16-km corridor over the past many years, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) sources have said.

Currently, the severely-congested Edappally-Vyttila stretch has only four-lane width, resulting in vehicles jostling for space much of the day. The Vyttila-Aroor stretch is largely six-lane, thanks to widening of the carriageway and new bridges built over a decade ago.

“Four-lane stretches will be widened to six-lane by redesigning space that is available on the 45-metre-wide NH Bypass. Different options will be tried out, including reducing the width of the central median from the present 4 metres to a metre. The space in between the NH Bypass and service roads on either side of the stretch also can be added to the tarred carrigeway of the bypass, hewing out 3.5-m space (the width of an additional lane) on each side,” said the sources.

The NH Bypass caters to intra-city, inter- and intra-State vehicles, which include national permit, container, tipper and tanker lorries. The vehicles are finding it extremely tough to negotiate through four-lane parts on the corridor. The lack of let-up in traffic flow has resulted in pedestrians having to risk their life and cross the bypass. Measures to ensure their safety too would be taken, said sources.