THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If all goes according to the plan, the Vanchiyoor- Uppidamoodu road will become motorable again with the box culvert work over Amayizhanjan canal approaching completion.
According to officials, the work will be completed by next month and a four-lane road will be ready by December.
“The traffic on the arterial road near Vanchiyoor section has gone for a toss with the high volume of traffic now being rerouted through the Nalumukku-Uppidamoodu road. Many coming from the Fort side take smaller bylanes like Athani lane to reach Holy Angels’ Convent side. Haphazard parking on the road, especially near the old collectorate premises, also adds to the bottleneck,” complains Suresh Babu, an advocate.
Though the widening of this road was to be completed by March 2015, the work was halted after environmental activists objected to the felling of 36 rain trees.
“The BSNL optical fibre cables and many arterial assets had to be relocated. However, almost all boxes have been placed and the stretch will be motorable next month itself,” said Sudharshan Pillai of Road Fund Board.
The stretch of the Amayizhanjan canal here is 300-metre long. The canal, which was between four- and six-metre wide, is widened to 6.5 metres. The work that took six years for completion had cost more than double the projected amount.
