The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has cleared the decks for the widening of hairpin turns on the Thamarassery Ghat Road. Accordingly, it has released nearly two acres of forest land to the Public Works Department (PWD) to fast-track the pending project.
In four months, the first phase of work covering hairpin bends 3 and 5 will be completed to smoothen traffic on the 11-km mountain pass.
PWD officials said widening work was in progress at the third and fifth hairpin curves.
They added that the work would be completed simultaneously by regulating traffic on the route.
The government will spend ₹6 crore for completing the first phase, including the construction of retaining walls to protect steep stretches along the road. On completion, the area will have 30-metre width, facilitating trouble-free movement of vehicles. For more than 10 years, the district administration and the PWD had been trying to obtain the required extent of land from the Forest Department.
Big vehicles
The narrow hairpin curves affect the movement of multi-axle vehicles and container trucks.
Though the Forest Department had approved and forwarded the proposal on time to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, final sanction had been pending owing to technical reasons.
PWD officials said sanction was again required from the Forest Department for covering the other hairpin turns—mainly 6, 7, and 8—after the first phase.
It will take at least a year more to cover the whole stretch, they added. The condition of some narrow hairpin curves was improved in the post-monsoon renovation work.
A Central allocation of ₹19.75 crore last year too had come as a relief to speed up the project.
Officials said the work had been completed on time as there were no land acquisition procedures involved.
In view of the frequent traffic interruptions on the route, the government had also considered the possibility of constructing a tunnel road from Anakkampoyil to Wayanad as an alternative option.
Incidentally, Konkan Railway Corporation Limited has been entrusted with the task of conducting a feasibility study for the tunnel road proposal.
