A five-member committee headed by PWD Principal Secretary Kamala Vardhana Rao has suggested construction of a four-lane underpass linking SA Road and Thripunithura Road, after the six-lane flyover at Vyttila on NH 66 bypass is commissioned later this year.
“A report on the second-phase development work at Vyttila, the busiest junction in Kerala, which includes the proposal for an east-west underpass for vehicles, has been submitted to Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran.
“It will be a challenging task though since there are buildings abutting the NH bypass,” Mr. Rao told The Hindu. It has to get further approval from the Chief Minister and the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). It will be followed by the preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) on streamlining traffic flow at the junction.
The underpass project will involve land acquisition too. This is because the bell-mouths on the eastern and western sides of the junction are very narrow.
It will also necessitate widening of the two-lane stretch between Vyttila and Thykoodam to four-lane, PWD officials said.
Metroman’s view
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) principal advisor E. Sreedharan was on the forefront of those who advocated underpasses at Vyttila and Edappally to decongest the two junctions.
Speaking to The Hindu, the Metroman said work on the underpass proposed at Vyttila should ideally get under way along with that on the flyover. “This is because it will be easier to build diaphragm walls for digging across the bypass junction before the flyover’s decks are in place. However, the metro viaduct has been built in such a way that it interferes least with the proposed underpass,” Mr. Sreedharan said.
A word of caution
However, he sounded a word of caution, saying that the underpass would have to steer clear of metro pillars on SA Road and the flyover pillars at Vyttila. “Another option would be to build the underpass a little towards the southern side of the junction since the metro passes through the northern side,” he said.