KOLLAM: The Kollam-Thirumangalam National Highway will be closed from Wednesday for 10 days to facilitate the construction of the railway overbridge and an approach road near the Aryankavu Sales Tax checkpost here as part of the Punalur –Chenkotta railway gauge conversion. Goods transport through the highway will have to take a longer route through Nagercoil –Thiruvanant-hapuram as the proposed alternate road through Achankovil had not been maintained for several years. The shutdown will also affect cross-border passengers from both Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The alternate route suggested is through Achankovil, where the road joins the National Highway at Alimukku near Punalur. This road has been left unmaintained for the last several years and is unfit for goods movement. Bus passengers heading towards Tamil Nadu will have to get down at the KSRTC bus stand at Aryankavu and walk till Puliyara in Tamil Nadu, crossing the border by foot.
The Kollam–Thirumangalam route is one of the busiest inter-State roads that facilitate goods movement across the border. Kollam is the hub for foodgrain including rice and wheat which pour into the FCI godowns in 6 districts in Southern Kerala. This movement will also be affected with the closure of the highway.
The new bridge constructed at Aryankavu will be two meters higher than the present road level to facilitate electrification of the new railway. Approach roads to the bridge will be constructed from the Sales Tax checkpost and will be raised for about 300 metres to meet the bridge.
The present single lane overbridge is 112 years old and the new bridge will facilitate two-way traffic through it.
The Punalur –Chenkotta railway gauge conversion has been delayed for many reasons, the main being, paucity of funds and administrative delays.
