THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finally, a long wait is over. The much-awaited road from Shankhumukham to the domestic terminal of Trivandrum airport, which was closed for many months due to extensive damage owing to sea erosion, will be opened to traffic from March 15. The work on the diaphragm wall, which is a key component, to prevent sea erosion, has been completed. The work on laying the 350-m road started on Sunday and it is progressing fast day and night. The work is carried out by Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd under the supervision of Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB).
“We will open the road to traffic from March 15. The work on diaphragm wall to prevent sea erosion was completed by Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd. Now, the work is going on under KRFB and it will be completed soon as the work is going on round-the-clock. However, the drains on both sides of the road can only be completed by April even though the road will be opened to public from next week,” said Satheesh Kumar K J, general manager, KRFB.
The traffic from the airport to the city has been closed with barricades for the past several months. Passengers heading for the airport had to stop near the barricades, covering the remaining distance on foot with only a narrow portion of the road remaining. This also led to inconvenience for many people.
In the first few weeks of monsoon every year, the storm surge intensifies along the coastline from Shankhumukham to Kovalam damaging the coastline here. The authorities often have to divert vehicles coming to the domestic terminal of the airport when the beach road near Shankhumukham gets damaged due to sea erosion. Local residents who are aware of the situation prefer the Vallakadavu route and enter the city through NH 66 bypass at Enchakkal.
The PWD had received administrative sanction last year to restore the stretch by constructing a diaphragm wall, which can sustain high-intensity waves, with the help of the Central Road Research Institute for Rs 4.29 crore. The work was awarded to ULCCS in August 2020. Due to the delay, the total project cost for two phases has gone up from the initial estimate of Rs 5.39 crore to Rs 8.05 crore. The extent of damage due to sea erosion was so huge that half of the width of the road was broken. The beach had disappeared much earlier due to heavy sea erosion.