KOCHI: On Thursday, the Kerala High Court came down heavily on dangerous protrusions that have developed on stretches of city roads dotted by metro pillars. It directed authorities to urgently level them and carry out a comprehensive safety audit. C D Jolly, who plies an auto rickshaw on Sahodaran Ayyappan Road, said, “Running onto these bumps is like hitting an invisible wall. We have learnt to avoid them like a demon.”
At Manorama Junction, these bumps rise several inches above the road surface. “They have remained, despite locals flagging it several times, for nearly two years,” said Lulu Paul, who runs a tea shop nearby.
Accidents have become a regular occurrence because of these obtrusions, pointed out Edward M F, a shop owner. “So many lives have been lost already,” he said. The inherent risk is compounded by a lack of warning signs, making the protrusions harder to spot. Fittingly, the court has also asked that high-visibility warning strips and reflective road markers be installed.
While the court’s order stresses on immediate remedial action, the larger question remains. Why do these bumps form in the first place, and will fixes last?
According to Shreeganesh V Nair, chief consultant of the engineering firm GTCS, these bumps are a result of an innate flaw. “Much of the city, particularly these stretches, sits on erstwhile marshland layered with soft, shifting clay. So, this is already not a good foundation to build anything on. Regardless, we built city roads and flanking them are multi-storey buildings,” Shreeganesh said.
“Then, more recently,” he continued, “we dotted these city stretches with metro pillars. Although they rest on deep, solid foundations, the adjoining road does not. Construction activity disturbs the soil, and over time, traffic load causes uneven settling, resulting in these raised patches.”
Interestingly, similar issues are absent on the Edappally-Aluva stretch despite a string of metro pillars. “That’s because an under-drainage soil stabilisation system was built there since it’s a highway. City roads typically lack such measures,” he added.
Shreeganesh maintains that this is not a flaw in metro construction per se. “The responsibility for reinforcing road foundations lies beyond KMRL’s mandate. Yet, such interventions are best done during construction — you only get one chance.”
With the metro’s phase II work progressing towards Kakkanad, the expert warned that unless underlying issues are addressed, we may be laying the groundwork for the same problem to resurface on that stretch as well. Though TNIE reached out to KMRL, a response could not be obtained at the time of filing the article.
The court directed Kochi corporation to form a technical committee or task an expert agency to conduct a comprehensive safety audit of all roads along the metro rail corridor and submit a report by June 11.