Roads under excessive pressure & transport network choking in Kerala: Study

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 9 (KNN) Roads in Kerala are under excessive pressure with traffic growing at a rate of about 10-11 per cent annually, moreover distribution of traffic is also highly skewed and is concentrated on district and city roads thereby leaving villages and remote areas virtually unconnected, according to a study.

“Transport policy in Kerala requires re-orientation and it is important to visualise the transport system as an integrated structure of different modes and services functioning as distinct entities in a level playing field with the element of inter-modal and intra-modal competition, thereby ensuring organisational efficiency and individual viability,” highlighted the study titled ‘Roadtech: Sustainable roads and highways,’ conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The emphasis will have to shift from merely providing transport infrastructure and services to technological upgradation and modernisation in order to ensure mobility and not only accessibility, noted the study.

Besides, the thrust will have to be on provision of improved high quality services with minimum use of cross subsidisation and emphasis on achieving optimal inter-modal mix with appropriate pricing and user charges policy and through injection of competitive impulses.

There is a need to scientifically plan and develop transport infrastructure under a long-term perspective considering the economic transition of Kerala and status of knowledge economy, it suggested.

“The transportation network in Kerala is choking as a result of high population density and the resulted travel demands.”

The national highway itself calls for improvement in terms of widening as most its length remains as two lane.

In Kerala, the most important challenge in the road sector involves building all-weather roads connecting each and every village. “This is essential to promote the development of backward regions and integrate them with the mainstream economy by opening them to trade and investment.”

Research and development activities have an important role to play in meeting the challenges of modernising the road system, technology upgradation and finding cost-effective solutions to infrastructure problems in the state.

The transport infrastructure of the state consists of over 3.3 lakh kilometres (kms) of road and road density in Kerala is 852 kilometre (km) per 100 square km and it is ahead of the national average of 387 km/100 sq.km. While the length of road per lakh of population is 991 km, the roads maintained by different Panchayats have also increased by 49 per cent in 2013-14. (With inputs from Assocham)