With Travancore Devaswom Board handing over the land near Ayurveda College after a delay of over seven years, works of the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP) in the RR Lamp-Overbridge stretch has entered the final phase on the arterial road.
Bottleneck
The stretch is part of the 3.37 km Corridor 2 extending from RR Lamp to Attakulangara. Motorists find moving along the main road quite a task, as it has not been widened into a four-lane stretch.
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On getting the nod from the TDB, the Trivandrum Road Development Company Ltd (TRDCL), the concessionaire of the CRIP, commenced the work in front of the TDB buildings on Saturday.
“The construction of the drain in the 50-metre stretch has begun along with the adjoining 20 metres to link with the drain that has already been constructed. As it is the main road, the work will have to be taken up on holidays and without affecting the traffic”, a project official told The Hindu .
The arch leading to the Ayappa temple behind the TDB buildings needed to be demolished although the building had been spared.
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“The TDB will have to demolish the arch so that we can complete the works in the stretch at the earliest. Even then, the footpath in the stretch in front of the buildings will only have a width of 1.2 metres”, he said.
Footpath
Once the construction of the drain is completed, the footpath would be developed and the polymer-coated interlocking blocks would be laid.
Resurfaced
Later, the carriageway would be resurfaced and road markings would be painted.
Along with this, the project authorities decided to complete the works on the footpath till Pazhavangadi. The work was almost over and would be completed in the next 10 to 15 days, the official said.
The work on the Pazhavangadi-East Fort stretch could be taken up only after the construction of the flyover at Melepazhavangadi and relocation of traders on the Power House and Thakaraparambu roads.