With decks being cleared to acquire land from the Naval Armament Depot (NAD) and HMT, stakeholders are hopeful that the 6-km NAD-Mahilalayam stretch of Seaport-Airport Road can be completed by 2026 and the 4-km Mahilalayam/Aluva-Chowara stretch by 2027.
It will, in turn, lead to realising the long-overdue airport extension of Seaport-Airport Road, a project that began two decades ago. The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), that had been tasked with the road’s development, was hamstrung due to non-allocation of sufficient funds by consecutive governments.
“While the completion of the road’s airport extension would help establish a link with NH 544, the road would have to be linked to the proposed greenfield Kochi-Theni stretch of NH 85 that is set to begin from Nettoor on Edappally-Aroor NH Bypass, in order to establish connectivity to Kochi port. The earlier plan was to link the southern end of Seaport-Airport Road with Thripunithura Bypass which is now caught in red tape, in order to link it with the existing NH 85 corridor,” said sources.
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