Kerala - Kochi   

Separate vehicle bays on South bridge mooted

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

TIME FOR AN OVERHAUL: The footpaths on either side of the Ernakulam South bridge will be raised and widened, to convert them into bays for two and three-wheelers.

KOCHI: The long-pending proposal to make good use of footpaths on either side of the Ernakulam South overbridge is likely to materialise soon.

As of now, the footpaths together occupy three metres of the 10.4-metre wide bridge. The Better Kochi Response Group, a recently-constituted organisation with experts from different fields, submitted a project to the District Collector to reinforce and widen the footpaths, so that two and three-wheelers can use it. The footpaths will be four inches higher than the road, so that the existing footpaths would act as dedicated bays for two and three-wheelers.

City-based architect and an office bearer of the response group, S. Gopakumar said the existing carriageway (the bridge’s tarred surface) is 7.4 metre wide. “Four-wheelers and bigger vehicles can easily proceed in two rows if the carriageway is 6.3 metre wide. Thus the balance 1.1 metre could be divided between the existing three-metre wide footpaths, so that each bay is 2.05 metres wide.

The Venduruthy bridge carriageway is 5.8 metre, just sufficient width for two heavy vehicles to cross each other,” he said. Segregating two and three-wheelers along the bridge would increase its efficiency by 30-40 per cent. A footpath could be erected on any one side of the bridge, so that pedestrians can use it. As of now, most pedestrians prefer to walk through the rails to cross the bridge instead of climbing the steep footpaths, the slabs of which have broken in many places.

Another proposal is to replace the fragile parapets on either side with concrete ones. “We have taken up the matter with the Railways,” Mr Gopakumar said.

The District Administration, Corporation of Cochin and the City Police have given their nod for the proposal. A senior official in the Railways said a decision on modifying the footpaths would have to be taken at the Thiruvananthapuram Divisional level. On the proposal to convert the bridge into a four-lane one, he said the Railways would pool in 50 per cent of the funds if the Chief Bridge Engineer of the department sanctions the project. “But the State government should first accord top priority to the project and convince the Railways of the urgent need to widen the bridge.”

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