THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nine corporation wards in the city including Chalai, Thampanoor and Vanchiyoor will get a facelift as part of the Smart Road initiative conceived under the Smart City Project. According to an official with Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL), the Smart Road project which is still in the initial stage will be tendered by February. Removal of overhanging electricity and optical fibre cables to free up road space, pedestrian-friendly footpaths and bus bays with Wi-Fi facility and good seating will be carried out in the 72-km stretch as part of the project. Sreekanteswaram, Valiyasala and Vazhuthacaud are some of the other areas which will also get a makeover as part of the project.
“Overhanging cables and water lines will be placed in separate underground utility ducts. This will further reduce the amount of road cutting work that needs to be done in these areas,” said an SCTL official. The removal of overhead cables would also lead to less electric posts on the road which will increase its width to a certain extent.
Facilities for detecting traffic violations such as jumping red light signals, speeding and adaptive traffic control systems to control traffic are some of the other developments planned. “In case of a four-way traffic intersection, the line which has more traffic will be allotted more time under the adaptive traffic control system,” said the SCTL official.
The traffic violation detection and traffic control systems will be placed in other main junctions of the city as well. Upgrading the existing bus bays into ‘smart bus stops’ which would have digital display boards for providing information about bus timings and stops along with Wi-Fi facilities are also included within the Smart Road project. Laying of tiles on footpaths and construction of cycle tracks near footpaths are also mooted.
Multi-parking facilities will also be coming up near the Connemara market in Palayam, Thampanoor (railway station) and near the corporation office on the Vellayambalam-LMS stretch as part of the Smart City Project.
Project
Removal of overhanging electricity and optical fibre cables to free up road space, pedestrian-friendly footpaths and bus bays with Wi-Fi facility and good seating will be carried out as part of it