With the construction work on the Metro Rail fast approaching, Kochiites will soon be in for bouts of traffic regulation and diversion. The City Traffic police, in consultation with the authorities with the Kochi Metro, have prepared a sketch on the traffic diversion along the Aluva to Petta route, during the construction of the metro rail.
The bulk of the construction work on the roads will be along the median of the road where the pillars for the metro are to be constructed. In order to facilitate the construction, the police will barricade the median and the surrounding areas at regular intervals.
“We are looking at barricading the medians and the area around them at regular stretches of 300 metres each. Once the work within a particular stretch of 300 metres is completed, it will be extended to the next portion and the roads will be opened up in the first stretch. So at a time, we will have regular barricading along the medians each at a length of 300 metres,” said the Traffic AC East, Vinod Baby.
Meanwhile on the roads, the extension would mean that, some of the four lane stretches like the Edappally-North RoB will have to be reduced to two lanes. On the other hand, wider parts of the route including the bypass will be relatively unaffected by the barricading. The barricades will be equipped with electric lighting and other facilities to help commuters.
The traffic police are looking at diverting the traffic through various alternative routes. A crucial aspect in this direction would be the completion of the construction of the Salim-Rajan RoB. “If the Salim-Rajan RoB is completed on time then we will be able to divert the bulk of the traffic through the RoB via the MG Road-Rajaji Road-Salim Rajan RoB-Kaloor-Kathrikadavu route. Thereby the vehicles will be able to skip the traffic snarls at the North RoB,”said the Assistant Commissioner.