KOCHI: A serpentine queue of vehicles during peak hours is a daily affair at Thevara, both morning and evening. The heavy flow of vehicles along the narrow Thevara Junction-Ferry stretch and the two-lane 1.75-km Kundannoor-Thevara bridge has turned the four-way intersection there into a commuter’s nightmare, particularly for scores of students struggling to reach school on time.
With the area hosting at least three prominent schools and a college, Thevara is a vital educational hub. Yet, its limited access points mean students and other commuters face agonising delays, especially during the monsoon.
Rains this season have exacerbated the problem, with crevices on the bridge’s tarred surface worsening an already precarious situation.
“We barely get rides in the area. Rush hour is our prime time, but with so much traffic, we can hardly complete the trips we get,” lamented Suresh K J, a Thevara-based autorickshaw driver, highlighting the economic toll on local transport providers.
Concerns are mounting over the bridge needing repeated maintenance work.
“The bridge surface was claimed to be tarred with German technology, guaranteeing longevity, yet problems appeared within four months of the completion of the work,” rued Maradu municipality chairperson Antony Ashanparambil.
“As the season changes, the issue of tar melting and turning into small humps is going worsen, directly hindering timely travel.”
The gridlock peaks between 7.30am and 10am, a period characterised by a heavy convergence of school and college students alongside office-goers.
“It is a daily struggle to get children to school on time in this traffic; the commute is incredibly difficult,” said Antony Raj, a concerned father of a school student.
While evenings are slightly less chaotic due to staggered timings, the morning rush remains a source of constant stress for families.
The congestion also impacts local businesses and tourist attractions. The Folklore Museum at Thevara, despite opening at 9am, sees very few visitors in the morning.
“With school reopening, even crossing the Alexander Parambithara Bridge (connecting the southern side of Willingdon Island) has become hard. I reach work late every day, and we rarely get any visitors in the morning. They arrive only around noon,” a museum employee said.
Amid all that, a proposal has been floated to widen the bridge, but concrete action is yet to be taken. “Given the growth in traffic growth, widening of the bridge and the road is the need of the hour. Some talks were held earlier in that regard. The government should find a solution,” said C R Shavanas, leader of opposition, Maradu municipality.
The Ernakulam Residents’ Association Coordination Council (RACCO) too has demanded an immediate solution to the heavy congestion on the key stretch.
“The Kundannoor-Thevara bridge is still a two-lane section, one of the few narrow bridges in the district. The doubling work should be taken up on a war footing. Even the Nettoor-Kundannoor parallel bridge is wider than the main bridge. This anomaly should be addressed immediately,” said RACCO district secretary K G Radhakrishnan.
NHAI speeds up proposed Port Connectivity Corridor
Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has initiated a series of discussions with the Cochin Port Trust to resolve the land issue and facilitate the speedy implementation of its proposed Port Connectivity Corridor project, which on realisation will ease the traffic flow on the Kundannoor Thevara bridge. The corridor is proposed to start from Nettoor and run parallel to the existing NH 966B. The six-km four-lane highway will connect NH 66 with Willingdon Island.
“Discussions are on and we’ve made progress during the talks,” a senior NHAI official said.