Kazhakkoottam flyover work: Police mull traffic diversion

Thiruvananthapuram: With the works of a flyover on national highway at Kazhakkoottam here set to go in full swing, vehicular traffic along the region is expected to be affected in the coming months. The city police have already started preparations to face the contingency by arranging alternative routes to divert the traffic.
The flyover is set to come up on national highway 66 starting from Kazhakkoottam police station and ending near Technopark Phase III campus. At present, the piling works are going on along the stretch between Kazhakkoottam and Attinkuzhi and the traffic along the stretch would completely be stopped as soon as the works enter next stage.
City police commissioner Kori Sanjay Kumar Gurudin said he already held an initial round of meeting with various stakeholders involved, including Technopark CEO, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the contractor who has undertaken the works and even local residents and traders. “The volume of vehicular traffic along the national highway at Kazhakkoottam is so huge that merely diverting it via other roads is not practical,’’ the commissioner said adding that thorough planning was needed in this regard.
Even though there are service roads on both sides of the highway, they are narrow and insufficient to accommodate the traffic flow. Still, the police would impose a complete ban on parking of vehicles on these service roads so that residents and Technopark employees are not affected.
‘’The Kazhakkoottam-Ulloor stretch is already facing traffic congestion during peak hours and hence we are thinking of trying out some innovative ideas to arrange alternative routes,” Gurudin said, adding that a detailed plan would be ready in the coming week. A lot of factors have to be considered before finalising the plan, the commissioner added.
The flyover being constructed at Kazhakkoottam was not part of the original plan of Kazhakkoottam-Mukkola NH 66 works. A proposal for the flyover was presented before Union minister Nitin Gadkari when he visited the city for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the works in 2017, citing the traffic woes in the region and the minister immediately green signalled it. Joint venture firm Rameshwar Dayal and Son-Cherian Varkey Construction Company (RDS-CVCC) was entrusted with the works after it won the bid floated by NHAI.