Benny Behanan and Thomas Chazhikadan, MPs, met National Highways Authority of India Chairman Santosh Yadav on Tuesday and demanded a spur road connecting the Kochi-Theni greenfield NH 85 corridor with land that had been acquired approximately 30 years ago by PWD (NH wing) for the yet-to-be-realised Thripunithura Bypass.
The spur road would help establish direct connectivity from the proposed greenfield corridor to Tripunithura town. Mr Yadav said that NHAI could look into it if land was made available and that he would depute officials with the task of studying the project and submitting a report.
Back in 2021, the NHAI had readied a tentative alignment for the greenfield NH corridor, by including areas that had been acquired over three decades ago for the Tripunithura Bypass. The 45-m wide corridor will take off a kilometre south of Kundannoor Junction, to prevent congestion at the junction and is aimed at establishing port-to-port connectivity between Kochi and Tuticorin through Munnar and Theni.
