The worsening traffic congestion at Kundannoor Junction on the Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass where a six-lane flyover is being built might lessen to some extent by the second week of April.
The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) hopes to throw open the slip road, being built on the eastern side (in front of Crowne Plaza), to vehicles.
But uncertainty prevails as to when the service road, which was severely-damaged after the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) dug it up a year ago, will be restored.
PWD Principal Secretary Kamala Vardhana Rao said he had issued instructions to officials of the RBDCK, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that is executing the flyover project, and to those of the PWD (NH Wing), which is supervising the work, to speed up work on the slip road and to tar-coat the damaged service road.
“I have instructed them [officials] to concentrate on the slip road and service road as that will lessen congestion at the junction. I also told them to lay concrete paver blocks over the potholed portions of the NH Bypass to smoothen traffic flow,” he told The Hindu .
According to the agreement, the contracting firm in charge of the flyover project is duty-bound to ready slip roads, resurface the service road, and ensure a pothole-free ride for motorists at the junction. It also has to ensure safe movement of pedestrians.
Meanwhile, an RBDCK official blamed the KWA for digging up the tarred service road to lay water pipelines and not doing temporary restoration work. “Their work is still not over, and they are expected to carry out interconnection work between two sets of pipelines. The slow progress of their work and the uncertainty over the schedule of interconnection work have played havoc with our plans. It has affected both flyover projects, 47% of which is complete, and resurfacing of the dug-up service road,” he said.
Uncertainty among various departments over the precise location of Internet, power and telecom cables is yet another issue. “Cables and sometimes water pipelines snap when piling is done. But we are confident of adhering to the March 2020 deadline to commission the flyover,” the official added.
In the meantime, the PWD is trying to source funds to acquire small portions of land that are necessary to smoothen traffic flow at the junction, it is learnt.
