Considering the congestion witnessed at the toll plaza on the recently inaugurated Thalassery-Mahe bypass, it was decided to create a dedicated lane for emergency vehicles.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by District Collector Arun K. Vijayan and attended by District Police Chief Ajit Kumar, Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu, and officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the RTO, on Tuesday.
The NHAI and the toll agency have been tasked with implementing the new arrangement, which involves setting up a separate lane for emergency vehicles near the toll plaza, demarcated by temporary barricades over a 100-metre stretch. Other vehicles will be required to wait in queue in the remaining lanes.
The meeting also laid stress on the enforcement of FASTag usage. The NHAI has installed FASTag kiosks at two locations along the bypass to facilitate smoother transactions. With an average of 400 vehicles passing through the bypass per hour on the opening day, the authorities anticipate a reduction in congestion as more vehicles adopt FASTag.
The meeting also instructed the NHAI to draft a proposal outlining further measures to alleviate congestion at the toll plaza.
