There is good news for pedestrians, since work has begun to develop standardised footpaths on either side of the Kochi Metro viaduct in the Manorama Junction-Thripunithura S.N. Junction stretch, under a ₹29.23 crore project spearheaded by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL).
Street lights too will be installed on the approximately 7.50-km corridor, as part of the metro agency’s non-motorised transport (NMT) initiative. Metro sources said the entire stretch would also have tactile tiles, to guide visually challenged people.
“Moreover, drains on either side will be renovated or rebuilt if the need arose. Footpaths will be covered with durable natural-granite stones, while covered manholes will be readied every five metres. Gully traps/gratings will be provided every few metres for rainwater to percolate into drains. There will also be bollards, street furniture, and dust bins, while landscaping will be done wherever possible,” metro sources said.
Footpaths linking the metro station with the bus terminal and the water metro jetty in Vyttila Mobility Hub too will be built. The footpath network will also extend to Temple Road, Thevarakavu Road, Eroor Road, and Sanskrit College Road. Apart from junctions on either end, Kadavanthra, Vyttila and Pettah junctions too will be developed. While there will not be any land acquisition, encroachments will be removed, it is learnt.
Work on the NMT initiative has begun, even as there are widespread complaints of civic agencies failing to ensure the upkeep of footpaths, lights, trees/shrubs, tree guards, and allied infrastructure that KMRL had readied alongside the Edapally-Ernakulam South metro corridor. Making matters worse, civic agencies dug up tiles that KMRL laid atop footpaths on either side of M.G. Road, citing the need to declog drains.
President of Better Kochi Response Group (BKRG) S. Gopakumar spoke of how KMRL is any day better placed than civic and other agencies in constructing NMT infrastructure. “External lending agencies generally insist on NMT and other such initiatives to lessen the carbon footprint. I hope KMRL does a proper job in ensuring pedestrian-friendly footpaths, especially at Vyttila where the Public Works department (PWD) messed up the junction as part of constructing a flyover.”
Care must be taken so that footpaths are not taller than 15 cms and adhere to Indian Roads Congress (IRC) norms. This includes constructing them with smooth angles at junctions, he said.
K.K. Road
Earlier this year, KMRL had inked a pact with Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) to develop an NMT corridor on either side of GCDA-owned Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road. This would in turn give a facelift to footpaths beside the arterial stretch that have been in a dilapidated condition during the past decade due to GCDA’s ineptitude.
Metro sources said that a topography survey of the corridor was completed, while detailed designs are being prepared. Civil and electrical contractors have been fixed, while drainage and site-clearing works are under way.
