A 6-km port connectivity NH corridor (NH 966-B) proposed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) linking the NH bypass and Willingdon Island will take off from Nettoor. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) approved the alignment for the four-lane NH in November, while the 3(A) notification to commence land acquisition would be issued within a week, informed sources said.
The Kundannoor-Angamaly NH 66 bypass and the Kochi-Theni Greenfield NH 85 corridor too are slated to take off from Nettoor, where NHAI has mulled a trumpet flyover to seamlessly streamline the flow of vehicles from the highway stretches. Once ready, container lorries and other vehicles from the port would thus converge at Nettoor and proceed to northern districts and to Tuticorin Port through the two other highway corridors that take off from there. The NHAI chose Nettoor as the take-off point for the proposed highways due to paucity of land at Kundannoor Junction from where the existing two-lane port connectivity highway and the two-lane Kochi-Theni highway begin.
The proposed port connectivity highway will pass parallel to the existing two-lane highway for three km, while another three km will be a greenfield alignment. A total of around three km of the alignment will pass above the backwaters. The requisite land for the 45-metre-wide highway will be acquired by January end, since just around 75 houses and other structures ought to be acquired. Tenders would be floated in March for the crucial highway corridor that is expected to be opened to traffic 18 months from then on, by September 2025. It would have a four-metre-wide median, it is learnt.
