Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004 |
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Kochi
By Our Staff Reporter
KOCHI, SEPT 13. The opening of the Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road to heavy vehicles, which was supposed to be an Onam gift for the people of Kochi, is likely to be delayed. This is despite the fact the worsening of traffic jams in the city. The Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road was expected to bear a portion of the traffic, thus decongesting the arterial roads.
Diversion of buses
The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) Chairman, Antony Issac, had stated over a month back that the 200-metre stretch of the road would be tarred before Onam. This was to divert long-distance private buses through this road, which runs parallel to MG Road. This step was among the 18 suggestions made by the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) to ease traffic flow in the city.
`Unexpected rain'
The authorities concerned claim that the `unexpected rain' and `Onam vacation', had led to the delay. However, the rain started just three days back, after a dry spell of over two weeks. Huge potholes have developed on both the tarred portions (the worst is near the Kaloor Junction and Kadavanthra) and the metalled portion. This is bound to delay the tarring work. According to GCDA sources, the tarring materials, including bitumen, was ready. The chief technical examiner of the State Government would have to examine the materials, said the sources. "The contractor took a few days off during Onam. There was also the fear that it may rain when the road work was on. We are waiting for a dry spell. Tarring work will be over in two or three days. A separate tender would have to be called to re-lay badly damaged areas on the tarred portion," said the GCDA sources. They said that prior to the road being thrown open to heavy vehicles, steps would have to be taken to clear the shrubs and remove the vendors from the footpaths. The encroachment on the footpath is at its worst near Kaloor and Kadavanthra Junctions.
Encroachment
A private contractor has would be allowed to erect barricades on the footpath, for which permission would be given to display advertisements and erect small lights. "With the aim of reducing congestion at the busy Kaloor Junction, the City Traffic Police had recommended to the GCDA that the existing footpaths could be acquired and converted into parking bays, after widening the road further by two metres," said the ACP of Edapally Traffic, K.E. Joy. But nothing has materialised till date. Already, the bottleneck posed by the two-lane bridge at Katrikadavu is a cause for concern. Motorists fear that a situation akin to that near the railway overbridges at Ernakulam North and South, would be created at Katrikadavu too. At Ernakulam North and South, two-lane bridges carry traffic from four-lane stretches on the eastern side. The residents of the city are in an unenviable situation. The Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road and the Sahodaran Ayyappan Road are not yet ready for traffic, although work on this began decades ago.
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