Undulations on S.A. Road: expert calls for strengthening subsoil between metro pillars

A team of experts from the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C), which inspected the hazardous road conditions along the fast track of the arterial Sahodaran Ayyappan Road (S.A. Road) around metro rail pillars, is expected to submit a preliminary report to the Kochi Corporation on Saturday (October 3).

These severe undulations on 3 km of the four-lane road’s fast track and the acute traffic snarls in the Palarivattom-Kaloor corridor due to metro works have, over the past year, severely affected connectivity to the city hub from different parts of Kochi.

Experts from the NIT-C who inspected the portions that were severely affected due to sinking of the road around metro pillars on the Manorama Junction-Kadavanthra stretch of S.A. Road would hand over a report to the Kochi Corporation later this month, in the wake of widespread safety concerns raised by motorists and the Kerala High Court directing the civic body to take urgent remedial action, it is learnt.

T.K. Asharaf, chairperson of the Kochi Corporation’s standing committee for works, said the team conducted a primary assessment, based on which it would submit a preliminary report on Saturday. The Corporation’s superintending engineer is also part of the team that has been tasked with taking remedial measures in the arterial corridor. While the State government had set apart ₹10 crore to restore S.A. Road, the civic body is expected to pool in the remaining ₹2.55 crore that is required for the purpose, he added.

According to the initial plan, the undulated parts of the road on the fast track were to be chipped away and resurfaced. This was dropped in favour of a comprehensive repair of the corridor. The Public Works department (PWD) had earlier this year resurfaced a few portions of the Palarivattom-Kaloor corridor where the road around the metro pillars had substantially sunk by several inches.

On its part, Kochi Metro Rail Limited had chipped away a few inches from the pile caps of the metro pillars on either side of the steep, accident-prone curve at Elamkulam on S.A. Road to lessen the height gap with the rest of the carriageway. This was after over a dozen two-wheeler riders died in accidents in and around the vicinity of metro pillar No. 825.

Sand piling

Stating that the earth beneath the pavement between pile caps on the road is sinking differentially because the soil below is weak, Yacub Mohan George, a former PWD deputy chief engineer, spoke of how the soil beneath had to be ideally strengthened by sand piling for arresting differential settlement/sinkage of soil in the strip. “Then, BMBC resurfacing may be done above to form a uniform road surface. Alternatively, land slab [concrete] can be cast between the pile caps to prevent sinking,” he added.