A Helluva Ride to the City via Sreekaryam-Ulloor Route..!

“Oh! My Good God, let there not be a traffic block at least for the day”, prays every routine traveler who passes Sreekaryam road.  Prayers increase if he owns a vehicle.   Every heart will break for burning the fuel, which can be used to run kilometers, to cover a short distance in this hike.  The traffic -jam in the Ulloor-Sreekayam over years is like the saying “It’s easy to awake the sleepy, not the one and pretends to be”.  Is it because the Government and the officials who serve them can’t find a permanent solution to this or pretends they can’t?  “How it ends? When it ends?”  These questions still remain unanswered.   Whatever change happens at the capital city, it is as if somebody had taken a firm oath that the block in this route shall not be eliminated at any cost.  Solutions are several, but the fact is that the responsible heads are not ready to act.

This is the experience you get when travel through the said route:

The broad road beginning from Kazhakkoottam junction shrinks to a bottleneck when it reaches Chavadimukku and the mother of all problems start.  It’s a usual sight as shown in the picture that there is  an unlawful parking  starting  from Sreekaryam to Chavadimukku  on right side of the road  ie, from Coffee house to Spencer Shopping Complex.  You can never see a Bus bay on the road like this in any other city.  When each bus stops at every stop, the vehicles lining behind will create a block extending to Kallampalli junction in two or three minutes. Kilometers.

 

Towards the city, at Sreekaryam junction, on the left side of the road, pedestrians use road as footpath since the slab of the footpath is about one and a half foot high above the road level. What will one say about such roads being used as foot paths?  Afterwards the road will expand as if a bull was swallowed by a python.  The vehicles like cars, auto-rickshaws, and two wheelers which had been suffocating for a long while will get relaxed at this sight and move on  by blowing the horns is a daily sight.

In a messy junction where four roads meet and a traffic police or home guard tries hard to regulate the traffic, who is there to monitor the overtaking vehicles?  Some places in city where traffic can be regulated so easily, the police use cameras, take snaps of the common man and fine him for a petty offense.  How long will it take for such police to reach Sreekaryam?  When we move a bit forward, there comes another bus stop.  That is somewhat bearable, but what about the illegal parking (from the junction to the Bus stop) near the footpath? Buses, that too transport vehicles having unusual length and width, usually stop here covering the lion’s share of the road, loading the passengers. When we reach at Kallamppalli Junction, we can see a miracle which you haven’t seen anywhere,a bus stop and a waiting shed on the deep U turn, and the transport vehicles stop there only to block the way.  Afterwards, the road will be a little broad , but when it reaches Chenthy junction, the vehicles start slowing down as if flattening a balloon.  At Pongammodu junction again there will be a jam due the traffic control of the police.  That will extend from Kochulloor to Ulloor junction.  Is there any way out?

Some Suggestions:-

·        Since the crucial problem is the width of the road, widening should be done with immediate effect.

·        Meantime, utilize Ulloor-Cheruvakkal-Aakkulam road for light vehicles to reach Kazhakkuttom.

·        In return to Ulloor, a one-way can be maintained by bifurcating light vehicles from Sreekaryam Junction to Cheruvakkal via Layola School junction.

·        Set up signal lights and cameras at Ulloor and Sreekaryam junction to check violation of traffic rules.

·        Make Pongammood-Ulloor road one way using Pongammood-Archana Nagar-Old Road-Kochulloor route

·        Bus service to Eastfort, Kovalam, Vizhinjam, and Poovar should be directed through bypass.  Also set up clear direction boards on the bypass.

·        Assure measures to avoid unlawful parking from Ulloor to Chavadimukku from 8AM-11AM.

·        Corporation Parking Area near medical college should be opened for the public.

·        Shift the bus stops scientifically and practically.

·        Repair Kariyath-Paruthippara road so that the passengers from there to Nalanchira and to Perurkkada via Ambalamukku can avoid Sreekaryam-Ulloor route.

Syed Shiyas

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