Traffic on the Gap Road stretch of the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway will be temporally resumed on Wednesday morning. The decision was taken after an expert team from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NIT-C) on Tuesday inspected the landslip area on the Gap Road stretch where a spring was detected while removing the debris recently.
Single-lane traffic
“Single lane traffic will be allowed from Wednesday to January 2. The road will then be closed for widening works and traffic will be resumed again on January 14,” said Rex Felix, Assistant Executive Engineer, NHAI, at Devikulam.
He said that only single lane and light motor vehicle traffic would be allowed on the route. The NIT-C team led by Chandradharan and district geologist Ajayakumar, Devikulam subcollector S Premkrishnan, S. Rajendran, MLA, and national highway officials inspected the spring detected in the area and collected samples.
“The expert team said that the major water spring which was detected on the Gap Road stretch posed chances of landslips.”
Vacation rush
The road is temporarily being opened for traffic considering the heavy rush during Christmas and New Year vacation.
The traffic on the Gap Road stretch, the main route connecting Ernakulam and Thekkady from Munnar, was suspended after a major landslip on October 8 claimed two lives.
An interim report by the NIT-C team recommended construction of an alternative road until the road widening works are completed.
