Why Vetturoad-Thiruvallam stretch of NH in TVP has become commuter's worst nightmare

If you have an alternative route, take it. Travelling along the National Highway 66 bypass stretch, particularly between Vetturoad and Thiruvallam, has become a harrowing ordeal.

The primary culprits behind this endless commuter nightmare are two half-abandoned flyover projects at Vetturoad and Enchakkal. For years, these key stretches of the national highway have remained dug up, with construction progressing no further than a few concrete pillars.

What remains is a narrow, heavily damaged network of service roads that forces commuters to spend hours stranded in gridlock, wasting both precious time and fuel.

The stalled Vetturoad flyover: Four years and only ten pillars
Construction on the Vetturoad flyover began four years ago with much fanfare, but today, the project stands abandoned with only ten concrete pillars to show for it. The Hyderabad-based construction company contracted for the work has completely pulled its workforce from the site.

The original plan detailed a 115-metre-long flyover with earthen approach roads on either side. However, a severe shortage of construction soil coupled with the exit of the initial contractor has brought the work to a grinding halt for several months. The entire area has been left heavily excavated, making normal traffic flow virtually impossible.

A painful crawl from Kazhakoottam to Pallippuram
The real torment begins right where the elevated highway ends near the CSI Mission Hospital in Kazhakoottam. Commuters are suddenly funnelled from a spacious six-lane highway into a heavily bottlenecked service road.

Vehicles are forced to squeeze through a lane barely wide enough for a single bus, leading to bumper-to-bumper traffic that can last for hours. Commuters report taking up to two hours just to navigate the short distance from Kazhakoottam to Pallippuram. Large commercial vehicles are frequently seen crawling over concrete drainage slabs to get past.

The Vetturoad-Kazhakoottam service road is riddled with massive potholes and lacks proper tarring, leaving drivers to negotiate loose metal and gravel. During the monsoon, the entire stretch transforms into a muddy pool, causing frequent accidents as drivers struggle to distinguish the potholes from the road.

Enchakkal flyover: Stalled by design changes and budget disputes
Further down the Kazhakoottam-Karode NH bypass, the Enchakkal flyover remains similarly incomplete years after work began. Initially, the project was designed with reinforced soil retaining walls on both sides of the approach road. However, after similar walls collapsed on other parts of the national highway, NHAI authorities ordered a complete redesign, opting for a pillar-supported structure instead.

This design modification significantly increased project costs. Because the National Highways Authority of India has delayed a final decision on these additional expenses, the contractor halted all construction activities months ago.

This stretch is a vital route to the Trivandrum International Airport's domestic terminal. With nearly half a kilometre of the road left entirely dug up, airport commuters and VIP motorcades are routinely forced to take circuitous detours to avoid the gridlock.

An endless trail of commuter misery
The traffic bottleneck at Enchakkal stretches from the Chacka flyover all the way to the Muttathara junction on one side, and from Kumarichantha in Ambalathara back to Chacka on the other. Initially, authorities closed off all service roads during the first phase of construction, sparking fierce protests from locals.

Following the outcry, a small relief road from West Fort towards Vallakkadavu was opened, but it has done little to ease the bottleneck. The gridlock begins the moment vehicles turn into the one-way section near the Chacka flyover.

The narrow service roads, broken and full of craters, are barely wide enough to accommodate heavy vehicles, turning even a routine commute into an exhausting battle against time.