G.P. Jayachandra Kumar used to occasionally travel by car between Kanhangad in Kasaragod, where his office was located, and Thiruvananthapuram, his native place, until he retired from the Life Insurance Corporation last year. The journey, covering about 540 km, would take 14 hours, forcing him to stay at Guruvayur, in Thrissur district, overnight.
He is waiting for the day when the 582-km stretch of the National Highway-66 that connects Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod will have six lanes and is free of red lights. “Much of NH-66 was just a two-lane road, with several intersections. With vehicles parked on either side and passenger buses stopping to allow commuters to board and alight, a road trip to Kasaragod from Thiruvananthapuram took double the time it should,” he says.
