Efforts are on to make optimal use of space at Vyttila, bottlenecked parts of Banerjee Road, Pettah, and Thripunithura to streamline traffic, sources in the Kochi City Traffic Police (East) said.
With the PWD (NH Wing) not heeding to repeated requests to chip away parts of the roundabout and medians beneath the Vyttila flyover which unnecessarily occupy considerable space, the police have readied an action plan to enable smoother movement of vehicles in the free-left turn from the Palarivattom side towards Kaniampuzha Road which leads to the Vyttila Mobility Hub. This is because buses and other vehicles now have to jostle for space to negotiate a right-angled turn to access the road, adding to traffic snarls at the junction.
“This problem can be avoided if vacant land abutting the Vyttila Mobility Hub is added to the road, at the bellmouth. In addition, we have requested the PWD to tar-coat the earthen road shoulder at the turning, so that vehicles can turn smoothly, while relocating an autorickshaw stand here and also a few posts will create additional space,” police sources said.
Ultimately, the roundabout and traffic islands have to be altered to decongest the junction and to ensure steady movement of vehicles in different directions. “All these issues could have been avoided if the PWD had paid heed to our demand for trial run of vehicles beneath the flyover before building the structures that protrude into the carriageway. A similar problem prevails beneath the Kundannur flyover too, where traffic islands at right angles obstruct traffic movement,” they added.
The police have also initiated steps to close illegal cuttings on side medians, which often cause accidents at Kannadikkad and several other places on the Vyttila-Kumbalam stretch. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been told to push a U-turn here southward by 150 metres to prevent direct entry by vehicles from side roads.
Banerjee Road
Efforts are under way to carve out space that can be added to the carriageway at SN Junction at Palarivattom and at the chaotic junction in front of St. Martin’s Church where multiple roads converge. Similarly, the police have requested the PWD to resurface the underpass beneath the Edappally overbridge to prevent haphazard U-turns by vehicles coming from the Edappally Bypass Junction, it is learnt.
Pettah, Thripunithura
The police and Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) are working in tandem to ready a 24-metre-wide roundabout at Pettah, having a 10.50-metre-wide carriageway on different sides to decongest the junction commensurate with the scheduled commissioning of the Pettah-SN Junction metro extension. Efforts are also on to redesign Gandhi Square Junction located beyond Pettah, sources said.
Even as the police say that traffic movement along the mini bypass and allied roads in Thripunithura has improved following reforms initiated in July, which included redirecting of vehicles through alternative roads, residents’ associations and others have demanded that reforms be implemented in a foolproof manner.
