THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac) will prepare a road development plan for Kerala with the help of experts in this field to be considered for the 12th Five Year Plan. An expert panel consisting of 15 members from various sectors in road development will come under one umbrella to discuss ways improve the road structure in Kerala. The suggestions put forward by the experts will be collected and submitted to the government. Natpac director B G Sreedevi said that the experts will voice their opinion on safer expressways and highways, urban roads, district and rural roads, road signs/markings, signals and facilities. The transport system in Kerala and the methods to improve it will come up for discussion at Thiruvananthapuram on January 7. In Kerala, every year about 4,000 persons are killed in road accidents, many of which happen owing to bad road conditions. According to Sreedevi, there are about 65 lakh registered motor vehicles in the state, of which 63 percent are two wheelers. It is estimated that around 5 lakh vehicles are added on the Kerala roads every year which results in major traffic congestion in urban roads and highways. In urban areas, it is seen that even the available road capacity is limited by the unscientific parking of vehicles and also due to encroachment by hawkers, vendors, petty shops and workshops. The experts will also address the problems of pedestrians. Kerala stands third in road accident risk index and on an average around 12 people die on roads every day and over 100 people suffer injures or disablement. As many as 40 percent of accident victims are pedestrians and cyclists. About 95 per cent of the local roads under panchayats do not have even single lane width to allow for bus services and those are mostly not properly surfaced. There are complaints that even the roads maintained by PWD are not safe to use during bad weather conditions. The state needs to plan for better and safer expressways and highways to cater to the growing need of inter-city passenger traffic and goods movement. The transport master plans prepared by Natpac for select cities and medium-sized towns in the state way back in 1980s are yet to be fully implemented mainly due to lack of funds and availability of adequate land. Sreedevi said that it was now necessary to envisage a long-term action plan to improving road network system to ensure 100 percent road safety. An effective transport regime needs to be evolved for the state in tune with the needs of faster mobility, safety, access to social and economic services, while minimising the negative impact of transport development.
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