Around 90% of the work on four-laning the 26.7-km Kazhakuttam-Mukkola corridor of the National Highway 66 bypass stretching up to Karode has been completed.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken steps to expedite the remaining four-laning work in the 3.5-km Chakka-Enchakkal-Muttathara stretch, including the 1.6-km four-lane flyover in front of Thiruvananthapuram airport’s international terminal.
Railways have agreed to permit the NHAI to place the four 44-m-long steel composite girder of the upcoming railway overbridge at Chakka at night.
The work can be undertaken only at night and rail traffic along the Thiruvananthapuram-Kollam section has to be blocked and power switched off. Railways have promised to give permission once the wet spell is over, a top NHAI official told The Hindu .
The work on the 40-odd pillars of the ₹142-crore flyover from the old and upcoming overbridge at Chakka up to Kingsway Hotel is progressing.
Only 60 of the 390 beams for the flyover have been cast. The flyover that will encompass the service road and the piers will be 25 m apart.
The NHAI and the EPC contractor are running from pillar to post to get suitable site by the side of the bypass to cast the beams and to transport them to the site easily.
The NHAI authorities’ move to get the land belonging to the KSRTC at Eenchakkal has not succeeded.
The EPC and NHAI are looking for private land to the extend of one acre in the vicinity of Chakka or Eenchakkal to ensure that the work does not get stalled.
The flyover that has a width of 19.6 m has been entrusted to the Hyderabad-based KNR Constructions Ltd (KNRCL), the EPC contractor executing the 26.7-km four-laning work from Kazhakuttam to Mukkola.
The NHAI had already removed the roundabout at Eenchakkal Junction as part of expediting the work. The vehicle underpass mooted at Venpalavattom and Muttathara junctions has been shelved citing lack of resources. The busy junction will have traffic signals to regulate the vehicular traffic.
The EPC contractor’s 24-month deadline for completing the ₹623.41-crore four-laning of 26.7 km up to Mukkola ended in November last.
The work got delayed due to the delay on the airport connectivity and tussle between the State and the Centre on the cost-sharing of the 1.6-km flyover.
