The City Traffic Police have readied a traffic regulation plan to streamline traffic flow and ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians when the Palarivattom flyover is reconstructed during the next eight months.
This follows a joint inspection of roads and allied infrastructure in the area, conducted on Monday by a team comprising officials of the traffic police, DMRC and ULCCS - stakeholders engaged in flyover reconstruction, and NHAI which owns the Edappally-Aroor NH bypass. “DMRC, ULCCS and NHAI have agreed to contribute their mite to fill potholes on service roads of the NH bypass, and to ready infrastructure within a week to divert traffic. A trial run will be held for another week, following which the plan will be finalised,” said G. Poonguzhali, DCP (Traffic, Law and Order), who was among those who inspected roads that lead to the flyover.
Traffic can proceed as usual during this week, since only the tarred layer of the flyover is being dismantled now. The portion beneath the central beams of the flyover will be barricaded in a week, since work to dismantle the concrete portions of the flyover will follow suit. This would necessitate diversion of vehicles through U-turns that will be created on either side of the flyover on the NH bypass. Timer-based signal systems and high-mast lights will be installed at these two U-turns by agencies that have taken up the flyover work, to regulate traffic and to increase visibility in order to prevent accidents. On its part, the NHAI has agreed to repair and resurface potholed parts of service roads. All these works would be completed within a week, she said.
Put short, the flyover will be something like a round about, around which vehicles will flow in different directions. Light vehicles coming from Vyttila and proceeding to Kakkanad could take diversion before reaching the Palarivattom NH bypass junction and take byroads that lead to Kakkanad. Similarly, light vehicles coming from Edappally could use Pipeline Road and other alternative roads to skip the bypass Junction, which could encounter traffic snarls when barricades are installed beneath the flyover. “Our aim is to minimise inconvenience to traffic,” police sources said.
