Motorists and pedestrians are seething in anger at the worsening traffic snarl at Vyttila owing to the alleged delay on the part of the Public Works Department (PWD) in filling huge potholes, besides the serpentine queue of vehicles on roads leading to the junction thanks to extensive barricading for the flyover work.
Residents’ Associations Coordination Council (RACO) State general secretary Kuruvilla Mathews, who resides a little away from Vyttila junction, said the PWD should have raised service roads to hew out slip roads well before the commencement of flyover work in December last year. “Such works are being done now, after barricading more areas. The PWD should have emulated DMRC and KMRL which built or widened bridges and developed alternative roads, much before work on the Kochi metro began,” he added.
Mr. Mathews called upon the department to adopt modern techniques to fill potholes that slow down traffic and to speed up the flyover construction work. “The Traffic Advisory Committee and the district administration must urgently set things right. Congestion can be considerably reduced if an alternative underpass is built near the railway track beneath the railway overbridge. This and other decisions taken at a meeting convened by the District Collector to unwind snarls have not been implemented,” he added.
“The PWD should have reinforced and widened roads before the rainy season and the reopening of educational institutions. Potholes are causing accidents. Members of the public must adopt innovative modes of protest to highlight the ‘mess’ at Vyttila,” said Shamier Abdullah, who suggested the traffic reforms that the police had implemented a week ago.
Bus operators’ angst
Bus operators are among the worst affected due to wastage of time, fuel, and fall in income due to reduction of trips.
“Most buses conducting Vyttila-Vyttila circular service are forced to cancel four of the total 13 scheduled trips due to the maddening snarls caused by potholes. A policeman must be posted at the Vyttila side of Ponnurunni overbridge to regulate traffic,” said Nissar Karukapadath, who operates a few private buses on the circular route.
City Traffic Police (East) Assistant Commissioner Abdul Salam said the police had shot off letters to the PWD (NH wing) to repair potholes on a war footing.