Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has decided to do a techno-feasibility study to construct the metro viaduct over the elevated highway that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is considering on the 17-km Edappally-Aroor NH 66 bypass.
“The study will be done as quickly as possible so that we do not lose the opportunity when the NHAI finalises the design for the elevated highway that will pass through one of the busiest NH corridors in Kerala. It will shed light on aspects such as the potential patronage on the stretch, the number of stations needed, total investment needed, and also the technical aspects of integrating the metro viaduct with the elevated highway that would pass beneath,” metro sources said. The metro agency’s decision to commission a techno-feasibility study comes even as the NHAI is in the process of readying a detailed project report (DPR) for the elevated highway. Sources in the NHAI said the agency had sent a letter to KMRL in this regard in April, probing whether the metro agency was interested in having a metro viaduct over the elevated highway. “We are also keen to know whether metro extensions have been envisaged on any stretch of NH 66 and NH 85 that passed through Kochi,” they said.
The sources added that metro agencies in many Indian cities were building such two-tier constructions, with the metro viaduct passing above elevated roads. Likewise, this can be done on a cost-sharing basis on the Edappally-Aroor bypass, which is used daily by a whopping one lakh passenger car units.
Mayor M. Anilkumar exhorted the NHAI to speed up preparation of the DPR for the elevated highway, considering the worsening traffic congestion at Edappally and Vyttila junctions. Welcoming the suggestion for a metro viaduct above the proposed elevated highway, he said it would considerably benefit inter-district and intra-district commuters, including thousands of people from Aroor and even Cherthala, who commuted daily to Kochi for work. This would in turn boost patronage for the metro.
