NATPAC submits revised report to KIIFB on decongesting Vyttila
Revision follows the decision to allocate land to KSRTC for a longdistance bus depot at VMH, in return for the KSRTCowned land at Karikkamury to build an integrated bus terminal
The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) has submitted a detailed report to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) outlining steps to decongest Vyttila – said to be the biggest junction in Kerala, where acute traffic congestion and chaos prevail even after the commissioning of a sixlane flyover in 2021.
The report is a revision of the one that had been prepared in May 2023.
The revision follows a recent decision to allocate land to the KSRTC for a longdistance bus depot at the Vyttila Mobility Hub (VMH), in return for the KSRTCowned land at Karikkamury in the city to build an integrated bus terminal. The report also took into account the phasetwo development of VMH, where commercial development has been envisaged as part of steps to mobilise revenue, said sources in NATPAC.
All this was in addition to a proposal to have Uturns below flyovers that were planned on the northern and southern sides of Vyttila Junction. This would streamline movement of vehicles in the eastwest direction, as in Palarivattom, they added.
At present, the movement of vehicles from the Palarivattom and Kundannur sides towards S.A. Road and Thripunithura as well as those from Palarivattom wanting to turn left towards Thripunithura and VMH is hindered. Experts, commuters, and NGOs had attributed this to shoddy planning by the PWD (NH wing) that built the flyover.
Flyovers
NATPAC in its capacity as the design consultant for KIIFB had in 2023 suggested the construction of a pair of flyovers parallel to the metro viaduct that crossed Vyttila Junction in the S.A. RoadThripunithura corridor in order to decongest the junction and half a dozen approach roads to it. Another option that the agency suggested was a 3kmlong, atgradecumelevated corridor along the backwaters on the ElamkulamChampakkara stretch.
In the meantime, the PWD’s assurance in early 2021 to carry out widening and secondphase development works of the junction in order to streamline the flow of vehicles and to ensure safety of pedestrians is yet to be fulfilled.