KOCHI: With shops mushrooming on either side of the Aroor-Edappally highway and more vehicles hitting the road, the stretch has become too congested. Potholes on the road add to the trouble, making it hard for drivers to navigate on the highway. Due to all this, parking has become a major problem for shoppers as well as the shopkeepers on one of the busiest commercial stretches in the city.
“There are many shops and establishments along the Aroor-Edappally highway as the other nearby prominent locations like Vyttila and Kadavanthra are already very developed. However, the shops are not able to provide ample parking space for customers who then encroach either the highway or the service roads,” said Unnikrishnan, one of the residents and a regular traveller on this route.
Container lorries arriving from other states are also parking on either side of the highway and posing threat to small vehicles, especially two-wheelers. Two-wheeler riders also suffer when the frequent movement of the bigger vehicles creates potholes on the road. Unnikrishnan also suggested that authorities should introduce multi-level parking by converting abandoned malls or buildings in the area.
Defunct streetlights and cameras are also a problem on the highway, said Nandakumar E N, a social worker. He added that nearly 100 encroachments along the highway have been reported till date, of which some are very big. Hit and run cases are also increasing on the highway, said Nandakumar.
SPOTLIGHT
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