Commuters travelling between Alappuzha and Ernakulam are facing gruelling delays, with some stretches along the national highway taking over an hour to cover just a single kilometre. The ongoing construction of the elevated highway, combined with a surge in festive travel, has turned the daily commute along the Cherthala-Aroor stretch into an absolute nightmare.

Dilapidated service roads worsen the bottleneck
The traffic situation is particularly grim between Cherthala and Aroor. While completed sections of the flyover offer a smooth ride, vehicles are forced to funnel onto narrow, unpaved service roads in areas where work is still underway. These poorly maintained service roads have become major bottlenecks. Near the Cherthala X-Ray Junction, motorists report being stuck in traffic for up to two hours to cover just a single kilometre. This gridlock recently backed up traffic all the way to Thiruvizha and Thanky Kavala. Residents and motorists argue that paving just 50 metres of the service road on both sides of the junction could significantly ease the congestion, but authorities are yet to act on their complaints.

Single-lane bottlenecks at Aroor and Thuravoor
Further up north, near Sree Narayana Nagar in Aroor, traffic has been restricted to a single lane. This is due to ongoing concrete-pouring work on the girders installed over pillars 24, 25, and 26 of the Aroor-Thuravoor elevated highway. Consequently, vehicles heading from Ernakulam towards Alappuzha are caught in long, frustrating queues on the eastern side of the highway. Meanwhile, at Thuravoor Junction, where the elevated highway ends, approach road construction has forced traffic into single-lane tracks on both sides of the road.

Bus stops add to the commuter misery
The bottleneck at Thuravoor is aggravated by the presence of KSRTC and private bus stops right in the middle of these narrow, single-lane stretches. When buses pull over to board or deboard passengers, the entire flow of traffic behind them grinds to a halt. Commuters have repeatedly requested the temporary relocation of these bus stops to ease the flow of traffic, but local authorities are yet to implement any such measures.