North Malabar’s longstanding dream of Thalasserry—Mahe National Highway Bypass has been opened by the PM virtually. This is the first six-line road in Malabar as part of the national highway development. Kerala PWD Minister and Assembly Speaker participated in the inaugural programme on March 11, organised underneath a bridge that is part of the new highway. Several arts programmes were conducted during the occasion.
The new highway facilitates vehicular traffic from Muzhappilangad to Azhiyoor, Kozhikode, in twenty minutes without touching Mahe and Thalasserry towns. Otherwise, it would be an hours-long journey entangled in terrible traffic jams.
The road was opened for a trial run last week. The bypass is 18.6-kilo meters long and 45 meters wide. Even though the land acquisition was completed in 1977, the construction only started in 2018, after PM Narendra Modi’s takeover.
During the last ten years of the NDA regime, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Expressways (MoRTH) has made great leaps forward in the development of national highways and bridges. The Ministry has made a major push for highway development and taken measures to bring efficiency, transparency and speed to the creation of DPR, pre-construction, and the operations and maintenance phase. As a result, highways are constructed at a pace of 35 km per day. 12,500 kms of construction is highly likely to take place during the current fiscal year. MoRTH has formulated a Vision 2047 Master Plan seeking equitable access to high-speed corridors within 100 to 150 km across Bharat.
Between 2004 and 2014, the average annual construction was 4,174 km. It has increased by 2.23 times to 9,304 km per year between 2014 to 2023.
The quality of the roads in terms of widening and speed has been significantly improved. Construction activity in the last five years has focused on High-Speed Controlled Corridors. The length of the High-Speed Corridors in the country has increased by around seven times, from 550 km in 2004 to 4000 km at present.
Kerala is highly benefited by the Narendra Modi Government’s ‘top gear road development’ schemes. Therefore, the State is indebted to the PM Modi and Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Surface Transport.
But, interestingly CPM-led Left Democratic Front of Pinarayi Vijayan tries take credit of the unprecedented growth. People look at it as a funny exercise.
