Date:07/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/07/stories/2008090760480300.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Want to shop? park and walk

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Parking curbs to be imposed on NH stretches

Restrictions on Kesavadasapuram-Plamood stretch from today
Vehicles will have to be parked on the road
near M.G. College

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To ensure free flow of vehicular traffic through the National Highway-47 passing through the city, the police are to introduce the ‘park, walk and shop’ concept.

The traffic police have decided to introduce the concept by restricting vehicle parking in the Kesavadasapuram-Plamood stretch of the NH-47 from Sunday.

The police have requested those coming for shopping in the trade centres in the stretch to park their vehicles on the side road near the boundary of M.G. College. According to a senior traffic official, the shoppers will have to walk from here to the trade centres or depend on buses or autorickshaws.

“This is the only way out since the city lacks parking lots and because vehicle population has risen steeply,” the official said. Already, many who come for shopping in the Overbridge-East Fort stretch park their vehicles in the Gandhi Park and either walk or proceed in autorickshaws to the trade centres.

The traffic police have also decided to restrict parking on both sides of the widened stretch from Martyr’s column to the VJT Hall junction from Sunday. Haphazard parking of vehicles in this stretch often leads to traffic snarls in Palayam. This, despite the fact that the parking lot behind the TRIDA’s Saphalyam complex, the only one in the Palayam-Overbridge stretch, remains empty most of the time.

On Saturday evening, traffic snarls were witnessed in the arterial road from Palayam itself. It took over 45 minutes for a vehicle from Palayam to reach Overbridge junction. The snarls were on account of illegal parking of vehicles near Saphalyam complex, VJT Hall and GPO-Pulimood-Ayurveda College stretch.

The traffic situation is set to worsen from September 10 when the government-sponsored Onam celebrations begin in 14 venues in the capital. As Chandrasekharan Nair stadium is the main centre of the celebrations and the entire stretch from Raj Bhavan to East fort is to be lit up, hundreds are expected to throng the streets.

According to the official, more traffic policemen will be posted for duty from Monday in the second shift. The police will also enforce traffic restrictions in some stretches from Wednesday.