Thiruvananthapuram: The development of National Highway 66 from Kasaragod to Kanyakumari into a six-lane highway on a 45-metre wide stretch will be able to accommodate additional infrastructure such as metro rail and elevated railway in the future. The new design, approved by the union surface transport ministry, will have three lanes on 21 metres on each side with a median with a width ranging from two and four metres. It is understood that the union ministry agreed to drop the earlier design to develop a four-lane highway wide 15 metres on each side after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan insisted on a six-lane highway.
Kochi-based traffic expert Upendra Narayanan told DC that the design of a four-lane road on 45 metres has long outdated. “The new design envisages a two-metre wide central median, which still can accommodate a three-in-one duct,” he said. “It would see the drainage at the bottom, a box type duct which can accommodate cables and pipes and a walkway or a footpath.” He maintains that a six-lane road can be developed even on a 30 metre-wide stretch with parking bays. “A lane is normally 3.5 metres wide and the central leaves out half a metre open space while constructing the side curb,” he said.
Meanwhile, NH Action Council representatives have demanded that the six-lane highway must be developed on the lines of the Karamana – Kaliyyikkavila stretch which is only 30 metres wide. The council has been demanding for a long time the construction of the six-lane high way instead of four lanes. “The government will have to spend Rs 50,000 crore if it goes for BOT model for the development of the highway,” says Abullais Thenhippalam, Malappuram district convener of NH 17 Action Council. “It will leave several thousand people homeless and will have to charge exorbitant toll. But it will be able to construct it at a fraction of that amount if it develops the road on its own,” he added.
