“I can pass Alappuzha town in five minutes now,” said Rajasekharan, a native of Kalarcode, as the new bypass in the district was inaugurated on Thursday, almost three decades after the foundation stone was laid. The bypass is expected to drastically bring down the travel time from the south to the north and vice-versa in Kerala.
The foundation stone for the bypass laid in December 1990. It jointly inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister for Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari through video conferencing. The bypass is a 6.8 kilometre-stretch from Kommadi to Kalarcode. The 6.8-kilometre stretch consists of a 4.8 km elevated highway. This is the longest elevated highway in the state. The bypass is built at a cost of Rs 347 crore with the both the Union and state governments equally sharing the expense.
The state government developed the Kommadi and Kalarcode roads into double lanes for providing expanded approach roads to the bypass. It has been done at a cost of Rs 21 crore.
“It takes a minimum of 30 minutes to pass the town on a normal day. This would increase to hours if there is even a small event in the city. Of course, there are a few parallel roads, like the one through the coastal regions. But the commuters from other districts, who use the National Highway, would choose the main road. That leads to traffic congestion almost every day in the town,” Rajasekharan, who is a marketing professional, told TNM.
Alappuzha is one of the towns in the state where the existing road expansion is simply impossible because of the lack of space. With the opening of the bypass, commuters, who travel by road and who choose the NH over the MC Road to travel from one part of the state to another, would be much relieved. This could also be a solace for the commuters within the district too.
“There is no need to pass through the town now, which means we can save at least half an hour. And travel would be much easier to Changanassery now,” said Rajasekharan. Changanassery is a prominent town in Kottayam district.
Alappuzha is located between Kollam and Ernakulam districts in the southern part of the state. Sharing borders with Alappuzha are Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Commuters’ option is to choose the Main Central Road, known as the MC Road, that passes through Kottayam and Pathanamthitta to avoid Alappuzha.
The expansion of the road from Kalarcode to Paravur in Ernakulam is also underway, which again would provide better connectivity between the two places.
A 13-kilometre stretch of Kollam bypass was inaugurated two years ago in January 2019. The bypass, connecting Mevaram to Kavanad, in the city, came as a huge relief for the commuters within and outside the district. The bypass has considerably eased the traffic in the town. With the opening of the Alappuzha bypass too, traffic in the parallel MC road too would be more eased.