Roads in Kerala

Agency-wise by distribution[1]

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

NH-66 Kollam Bypass near Kadavoor

Kerala has eight National Highways which run for about 1811.52 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.[2] Previous Kerala State Government had requested the NHAI to reduce the width of National highways in the 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.[3] The reason cited by the State Government was the difficulty and disinterest in Land Acquisition, which is the responsibility of the State Government. NHAI had stopped working on many of the highway widening/upgrade projects as there are opposition from the local population for highway widening.

Government has taken steps to develop the NH 66 (Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram) into six lane. But, proposed six lane highways with 45 m Right of Way in Kerala will not have the wide medians to help the trucks and large vehicles to take the U-Turn without blocking the high speed traffic, which is a common feature in other parts of India.[4]

Six-laning of National Highways in Kerala

Kerala's first six lane National Highway is coming up on the NH 544 between stretches of Thrissur and Vadakkencherry. The project is proposed to be completed by January 2019. Kerala's first and biggest six lane tunnel highway is also coming up on the stretch at Kuthiran in Thrissur district. The work for the Kuthiran highway tunnel almost complete. It is the part of Kochi -Thrissur-Palakkad- Walayar stretch of four-lane NH 544

NH-544 Six lane Thrissur - Vadakkencherry

Bharatmala Pariyojana has identified 418 km of national highway and State highway stretches in Kerala. Keeping in view a futuristic approach, it has been decided that the land for any 4/6-lane highway road will be acquired with a right of way (RoW) of 60 m irrespective of the width of the carriageway.[5]

Kerala has not been allocated Greenfield 8-lane access-controlled expressways like other south Indian states as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana, as many brownfield projects of NHDP projects have still not started.

The Palakkad—Thrissur—Kochi stretch of NH 544 is a part of North-South and East-West Corridor of the Indian highway system. Due to the previous land acquisition crisis, NHAI had also stopped the feasibility study of the project under NHDP–Phase-III scheme in the stretch of NH 66 earlier, but has begun again after the strict demand of present Chief Minister.[6] There was a proposal for construction of standalone ring road/bypasses around Tiruvananthapuram City under NHDP Phase VII.

S.No.	New NH No.	NHDP Phase	Agency	OSM Relation	Route	Length (km.)
1	NH 66	NHDP–Phase-III	NHAI	5828181	Thalappady-Kannur-Kozhikode-Kochi-Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram-Parassala	669.437
2	NH 544	NHDP–Phase-II	NHAI	5804290	Walayar-Thrissur-Edappally	160
3	NH 85	NHDP–Phase-IV[7]	Kerala PWD	5830968	Bodimettu - Kundannoor, Ernakulam	167.61
4	NH 183	NHDP–Phase-IV	Kerala PWD	5830952	Kollam-Anchalumoodu-Kundara-Chengannur-Kottayam-Kanjirapalli-Peermade-Kumily	190.3
5	NH 183A	New NH	Kerala PWD	5830954	Kollam Titanium Jn.-Sasthamkotta-Pathanamthitta-Perunad-Gavi-Vandiperiyar	145
6	NH 185	New NH	Kerala PWD	5830973	Adimali -Cheruthoni- Painavu -Kumily NH 183	98
7	NH 744	NHDP–Phase-IV	Kerala PWD	5804338	Kollam - Punalur -Aryankavu	81.28
8	NH 766	NHDP–Phase-IV	Kerala PWD	5828352	Kozhikode - Muthanga	117.6
9	NH 966	NHDP–Phase-IV	Kerala PWD	5828374	Ramanattukara - Palakkad	125.304
10	NH 966A	Port Connectivity	NHAI	5828385	Kalamassery - Vallarpadam	17
11	NH 966B	Port Connectivity	NHAI	5828387	Kundannoor - Willington Island	5.92
-	-			-	Total	1811.52 km

Longest State highway in Kerala (proposed) View at OpenStreetMap

There are 72 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 State Road Improvement Project (SRIP) envisages to improve and upgrade 1200 km of State Highways and Major District Roads to enhance the capacity and riding quality with proper maintenance plan, road safety and reducing the expenditure on periodic maintenance. The project is implemented by Road Infrastructure Company Kerala (RICK) Ltd. Road Infrastructure Company Kerala Limited (RICK) was incorporated on March 2012 as a Special Purpose Vehicle with paid up capital contributed by Government of Kerala (51%) and Kerala Road Fund Board (49%).[8] About 29 road sections totalling to a length of 469 km has identified for rehabilitation improvements by the company. Rehabilitation project include strengthening/reconstruction of pavement/structure, junction improvements, provision of road furniture, bus bay byes and other traffic management measures. The company plans to upgrade 32 roads of 644 km. Upgrades involve widening the carriageway with paved shoulder (1.5 m on either side), widening of narrow CD works, geometric improvements, junction improvements, identifying the grade separation requirements, etc.

Sustainable and Planned Effort to Ensure Infrastructure Development (SPEEID) KERALA - Kerala government have formulated the project of constructing flyovers, bridges and roads at selected areas in the state in order to reduce the increasing traffic congestion. The project named as ‘SPEEID KERALA’ comprises 23 projects at the estimated cost of `10,000 Crore. The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the special purpose vehicle under the PWD, had been entrusted with the task of mobilizing funds for the projects. Work of 5 projects are in progress.[9]

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. The KSTP was designed to upgrade 581 km and cover 1000 km under maintenance in two Phases. However, due to several reasons including delay in land acquisition, only 254 km of Phase I road was upgraded and maintenance works for 1180 km were carried out from June 2002 and December 2009. The KSTP phase 2 envisages upgrading 363 km of SH and MDR, Road Safety Management and Institutional Strengthening of PWD. The total Project cost is 445 million USD out of which 216 million USD is loan assistance from World Bank.

District-wise SH length of roads [10]

_{†Maintained by PWD (R&B) as on 31-3-2015}

Kerala Major District Road

District-wise MDR length of roads [11]

_{†Maintained by PWD (R&B) as on 31-3-2015}

The government is planning to improve all the major city roads in Kerala.[12] Roads in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Punalur city roads will get some major facelifts through this project.[13]

• Transport in Kollam
• Transportation in Wayanad

[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roads in Kerala.

• Kerala PWD Site
• NHAI