Considering the heavy traffic congestion that Vyttila will witness once the entire transport activities of the City get shifted to the Mobilty Hub, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has decided to speed up the work for widening the Chilavannoor Bund Road.

As per the GCDA’s plan, the road that stretches parallel to Sahodaran Ayyappan Road will be widened to 15 metres.

Opening an easy access to Thevara, the road will begin near Thykkoodam bridge at NH Bypass near Vyttila junction. It will pass through Chilavannoor and Panampilly Nagar and end at Pandit Karuppan Road.

The width of the road on the stretch may be restricted to 8 metre in some areas owing to the huge amount of money needed for land acquisition. It is learnt that the GCDA authorities had already reached a consensus with some of the land owners on acquisition of land and rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation process will not be a major hurdle for the GCDA as it owns a considerable volume of land. However, it needs the government sanction for acquiring land.

The GCDA is expected to start the acquisition process once the project gets the administrative nod.However, experts are of the opinion that a detailed study should be conducted for the development of Vyttila Junction.

Apart from the elevated highway proposed on the Kundannoor-Edappally stretch, they point out the need for a cloverleaf or flyover. “If both are not possible at the junction owing to space limitations, then an underpass should be constructed at Vyttila. The underpass can have one wider outer circular pedestrian path and one inner circular way. The two circular paths should be connected with the entrance of all shops. When a person enters the subway through one entrance using steps or escalator, he can go to all other roads and also to the bus terminal,” they say.

Earlier, the Kochi Corporation too had mooted a project for the development of four major junctions in the city, including Vyttila and Palarivattam. However, that project failed to have takeoff.