KOCHI: Kerala High Court has observed that the flyover at Edappally is not enough to handle the exponential increase in traffic in the city. The court made the observation while considering a petition seeking to take effective steps to prevent illegal and unauthorised parking of vehicles on the service roads on either side of the National Highway bypass between Gold Souk and Edapally Lulu Mall Junction.
The petitioner submitted that, besides unauthorised parking, a makeshift arrangement made by the traffic police for going to the Lulu Mall by providing a U-turn facility also hampers the flow of traffic on the highway.
The petitioner added that the entire problem could have been sorted out had the Kochi Metro been extended to Kochi airport. The distance between Aluva and Kochi airport is only 7 km.
Passengers going to the airport are forced to take a longer route through Container Road which is mostly used by heavy vehicles. The road towards the airport is also not that wide to accommodate more traffic.
The KMRL submitted that the petitioner’s contention that heavy traffic block at Edappally was due to the unscientific construction of an overbridge was an inane statement liable to be rejected at the threshold itself.
In fact, Edappally Junction, which was infamous for traffic congestion, accidents and unending traffic blocks, has become decongested only because of the construction of a flyover there, the KMRL stated.