Roads in Kerala

Kerala, southern most state of India has a good network of roads. It has nine National Highways, number of State Highways and many district roads.

Agency Wise Distribution of Road Length during 2009-10[1]

Sl. No. Name of Department/Agency Length (KM) Percentage
1 Panchayats 104257 68.748
2 PWD (R&B) 23242 15.32
3 Municipalities 8917 5.88
4 Corporation 6644 4.381
5 Forests 4075 2.689
6 Irrigation 26641.757
7 National Highways† 1525 1.006
8 Others (Railways,KSEB) 328 0.216
Total 151652 100

†NHAI maintains 444.9 km and Kerala PWD (NH) section maintains rest of the National Highways from direction of MORTH

District-wise and Category-wise Length of Roads Maintained by PWD (R&B) as on 31-3-2010[2]

Sl.No Name of District State Highways Major District Roads Total
1 Thiruvananthapuram 180.36 1471.942 1652.302
2 Kollam 123.79 1748.734 1872.524
3 Alappuzha 170.841 1032.485 1203.326
4 Pathanamthitta 249.194 1044.856 1294.05
5 Kottayam 406.531 2610.234 3016.765
6 Idukki 998.372 1402.688 2401.06
7 Ernakulam 325.206 1744.788 2069.994
8 Thrissur 374.033 1291.58 1665.613
9 Palakkad 245.987 1338.263 1584.25
10 Malappuram 374.764 1421.446 1796.21
11 Kozhikode 377.173 928.677 1305.85
12 Wayanad 128.955 637.397 766.352
13 Kannur 244.665 1453.196 1697.861
14 Kasaragode 141.78 773.772 915.552
Total 4341.651 18900.058 23241.709

National Highways

Kerala has eight National Highways which run for about 1457 km. Kerala has narrower National Highways compared to other parts of India. Kerala is the only state, other than Goa, which has requested for narrower highways in the state. NHAI upgrades highways to a minimum 4-lane, 60-meter-wide, grade-separated highway or a better standard across India. But in Kerala, National Highways are being upgraded to 45-meter-wide highways.[3] Now Kerala State Government has requested NHAI to reduce the width of National highways in state to 30-meters, although neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are upgrading their National Highways as 60-meters or more wider highways, with futuristic provision for 6/8-lane highway.[4] NHAI has stopped working on many of the highway widening/upgrade projects as there are protest against it in the state.

The PalakkadThrissurKochi stretch of NH 544 is a part of North-South and East-West Corridor of the Indian highway system.There was a proposal for construction of standalone ring road/bypasses around Tiruvananthapuram City under NHDP Phase VII. Due to the present land acquisition crisis, NHAI stopped the feasibility study into the oncoming project under NHDP–Phase-III scheme in the stretch of NH 66.

S.No. New NH No. OSM Relation Route Length (km.)
1 NH 66 3251490 Thalapadi -Kaliyakkavila 669.437
2 NH 85 3257242 Bodimettu - Kundannoor 167.61
3 NH 183 3257198 Kollam - Kumily 190.3
4 NH 185 3878629 Adimali -Cheruthoni- Painavu -Kumily (NH 183) 98
5 183A 3801007 Adoor - Kaipattoor - Pathanamthitta - Lahai-Vandiperiyar 145
6 NH 544 3239550 Valayar - Edappally 160
7 NH 744 3239789 Kollam - Kazhuthuritty 81.28
8 NH 766 3252308 Kozhikode - Muthanga 117.6
9 NH 966 3252912 Ramanattukara - Palakkad 125.304
10 NH 966A 3252940 Kalamassery - Vallarpadam 17
11 NH 966B 3464512 Kundannoor - Willington Island 5.92

State Highways

There are 77 state highways in Kerala. Of them, MC Road (Main-Central Road), proposed Hill Highway (Kerala) and Main Eastern Highway are the largest. The respective State Highway number is displayed on the top of all milestones (black in colour in green background) on the respective road. The Kerala State Transport Project, costing 336 million US dollars (Rs 1612 crores) - of which World Bank financing is US $ 255 million (Rs 1224 crores) and State's contribution is US $ 79.00 million(Rs 388 crores), aims to improve traffic flow and road safety on Kerala State's primary road network, and to strengthen the institutional and financial capacity of Kerala's key transport sector agencies.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roads in Kerala.