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To ensure fast movement of traffic and safety to road users, the Confederation of Indian Industry Kerala chapter has suggested acquiring 45 metre Right of Way and widen national highways in Kerala. The engineering standards and guidelines provided in the Indian Road Congress for widening of NH recommended that a RoW of minimum 45 metres is essential considering the freight movement, current and future growth of the project stretch, CII said in its report Widening of National Highways in Kerala : Opportunities and Challenges.

The report also considered developing a four-lane traffic with a minimum RoW of 30 metres without service roads. However, it came to the conclusion that this would considerably reduce the safety and the capacity of the carriageway thereby hampering free movement of the thorough traffic due to parking of vehicles along the road sides.

Highlighting the issues and challenges in widening NH, CII cited barriers such as high density population, restricted available Right of Way, environmental sensitivity, ribbon developments along road sides for hampering the NH development.

Due to these factors, it is pointed out that widening of the highway at every frequent interval of 10 to 15 years is not possible on account of land acquisition issues and environmental factors. Since the land acquisition is a lengthy and cumbersome process, the industry body recommended acquisition of the necessary land in one go rather than doing it in bits and pieces every 10 years or so.

Source-On Request