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-   -   NH 66 in Kerala | Status and Updates on 6-Lane Conversion (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/288231-nh-66-kerala-status-updates-6-lane-conversion-2.html)

Very well captured! The most important aspect for this highway is to get the alignment right, given how densely populated the state is. And we need that alignment with minimum possible bends to ensure we get a clean minimally-folded 6-lane. That part has come amazingly well and I hope the entire section completes soon.

Like Rajeev mentioned 66 forms one of the arterial highways that brings in bulk of the road traffic to the state (the other being the 544). Getting these two constructed right is of paramount importance for the state.

Thanks for this thread!!

For someone who needs to travel to Kozhikode from Pune at least once a year, this is one project that I follow keenly, mostly through YouTube videos. The preferred route for me so far has always been Via Mysore or Hassan and then through Wayanad. Its a lovely route, but I think once the NH66 opens up finally, getting onto NH66 via Yellapur from Hubli will be much faster. I think the same might hold true for people traveling further south too.

I am not sure if one will be able to cruise at 100 steadily as in other states, considering the population density of the state (expect a number of merge points and higher traffic density on the road). It will still be way better than the 30kph+ average speed that the stretch currently gives. probably around 60+ - that will be a saving of at least 6-7 hours between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram.

I had, on two separate days in Feb 2022 (A workday and a Saturday), spent some time to capture the travel durations predicted by Google maps for various stretches (arbitrary points on the NH66 from northernmost point in Kerala to the southernmost point - there could be some errors, please excuse). The idea was to save this for reference once the project is fully done - compare it with another saturday morning in early 2026 or so. Adding it here just in case someone finds it interesting. Just for reference, look at the abysmal average speeds in some of the stretches (screenshot)

The whole section is definitely 6 lane(at least technically). I think it is the combination of high shot drone views + the fact that there is pretty much no shoulder space that makes it look a 4 lane width. Having driven completed sections a few times between Calicut and Chavakkad, can confirm it is wide enough for 6 standard lanes. The compromises are in the medians, shoulders and service road widths.

Good points. I think a lot of pedestrian bridges are definitely being planned as per the example in the very first video of the thread, but of course, it will not be similar or easy as the previous situation. There is no debate that our roads are being built only with private transport in mind. But that is a whole other discussion.

Socio-Economic changes will happen as new infrastructure projects get completed. I guess it is a fine balance. The Mysore-Bangalore Expressway is a recent example. Earlier, driving through was an event in itself, the landscape, eateries, unique aspects of each town in between. Now it is a bland drive and you only see roads. Personally not complaining, but understand how it has completely changed the socio economic nature of the region.

Nice summary. Would be a good reference point for the future.

Yes, especially in Kozhikode and Malappuram District where the NH passed through winding terrains. A lot of it has been straightened. 2 big ones are the bypasses to Kottakkal and Valanchery towns which eliminate some very curvy sections. The Valanchery bypass eliminates the infamous Vattappara Curve where even in the last 5 years there have been 300 accidents and 30 deaths.

A similar situation prevails at Coimbatore bypass. It was literally a barren stretch a decade back, now you can see an IT tech park right next to the single lane road. Forget expansion, I wonder how an elevated road will be built here. And all the while, it was certain that the road would become a 6 lane + (4 lane service) road "soon".

A really good insight into the infrastructure development rate of the NH66 portion of Kerala!

I have made frequent trips through the Thrissur-Ernakulam section and work is still done at an extremely slow rate, if at all. Shivalaya Constructions have been given the contract for this portion. Most of them sub-contract their work, e.g materials acquisition and transportation. This often creates a slow work-rate due to these unreliable contractors. I realize the complexities that arise in such major pan-India projects, but the government needs to do a better job at enforcing stricter fines to persuade them in getting work done by the deadline, rather than blindly providing extensions.

Looks like the opposite side of the road is marked for expansion in this case, most of this bypass will see the new carriageway on that side based on satellite images in Google Maps, with excavations started in several places.

Just watched that specific video he mentioned. I don't know how true it is but the vlogger says the pedestrian bridge is built only after people of that specific area protested and one has to request their MP to write to NHAI if you want a bridge in your area, because the constructing company has no say in this.

Doesn't this mean this is a flawed project from the beginning where NHAI or the construction company did not consider the fact that people who don't own vehicles exist? Or were they supposed to "adjust" and live with it?

Again, they didn't consider one of the most popular travel method of Kerala, a bus, while planning this project. And I'm not even talking about the bus stops which are going to be changed/removed due to this new project on the road.

In Kozhikode-Kannur route, there are plenty of bus stops which are not in a town area, that means there is defnitely no underpass there in the future. Then how will one reach on the other side of the road to catch a bus to the other direction?
I'm only talking about this simple logical fact which any malayali 5 year old can think about.

I'm guessing - thanks to this road which didn't consider pedestrians or public transport users - Kerala is going to see a surge of new two wheeler owners.

I have been tracking this project for quite a while, and it's the most interesting yet complex project in the country which also exposes NHAI to many wrong and accidental practices

So far breaking district-wise, Kasaragod, Malappuram, and Kollam districts are the districts where works are progressing quite fast
Kannur, Alappuzha, Kozhikode come second in work progress
Thrissur, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram are the ones that are lagging mostly due to contractors' issues

In Thrissur, the contractor Shivalaya Constructions is also involved in Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Vadodara-Mumbai section where works have been abandoned

The accidental practices that NHAI still follows primarily include
1. Leaving 80s era Major River Bridges as it is without any demolition to 6 lanes, [seeing this in Kasaragod district 1st reach]
2. Railway OverBridges [ROBs] following the same in some regions of Kasaragod (post-Nileshwaram) and in Malappuram (Kuttipuram district)
3. Flyovers in some sections one arm is 4 lanes while the other arm is 6 lanes, especially in Kozhikode bypass but being constructed in recent times compared to the river bridges

Sadly the protests aren't as wild for these as it is for Underpasses/Overpasses in some places

sharing SS of the same, expecting more Cyrus Mistrys from Kerala, alas blame will go on the driver
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"There was one native man whose 75 now told a point once which actually holds true, he said that in the state of Kerala there should at least be Underpasses/Overpasses every 1 KM distance since 500m isn't possible and FOBs with mechanical elevators, but since NHAI hasn't been able to do this its going to be a tough time."

"The Best solution was to go full greenfield from start to end saving a lot on local issues and segregating traffic"

although 1 KMs seems a challenge, I'm imagining some places like in southern Kerala where underpasses are 2-3 KMs apart, top of that some accounts on other Social Media Platforms say demanding Underpass is "bad" because it will increase in "toll prices" when in reality its the only way to past proof the highway to prevent accidents and other blackspots, plus FOBs as a solution would rarely work, only in some important spots max

A lot of backlash especially in the Kasaragod, Kannur & Kozhikode districts

As per the Detailed Project Report [DPRs] its 45m Six Lane Highway, with service road from Talapady to Kazhakottam, only the Ernakulam bypass Edapally-Aroor will be 4 lanes in-between

Screenshot of the same

This is another issue that can only be solved by protesting, I was brainstorming some ideas like Mini-buses like the Mahindra Tourister or the Tata Cityride to ply on service roads while the Fast Passengers, Malabars would be stopping only at the bus stands in the reach, although its not perfecting out somehow, like how to make this integratedly smooth such that people will continue to take the bus, at the same time we also have private buses that do both at the same time

I made this chart for the district Kasaragod highway reaches which is nearer to my native place, the stops are based on passenger requirements and the bus stands near it





I'm imagining those people who will purchase cars for the only purpose of parking it on the service road due to the lack of parking,

earlier people said that the service roads are narrow, still glad that its 5.5+1.5m= 7m service road and not more than that otherwise its going to be a free-haven of parking by buying vehicles for unnecessary purposes and parking it on the road causing other problems

this example is from TVM near Lulu Mall






At the same time I wish just like the highway project has smoothened out, if the same happens to K-Rail with the silverline project such that there's a fast rail travel between the districts NH-66 passes through so that the congestion is relieved and things are stabilized well in the state

Otheriwse things would go :Frustrati

EDIT- There was a image issue with the bridge part I have posted, here is the fixed image

I still hope that people protest and get this 70s/80s bridge demolished, otherwise there would be more Cyrus Mistry Incidents in the place





The Rail Overbridge (ROB) at Kuttipuram, same can be said for one in Nileshwaram (note- not the new Pallikkara ROB)

Why do one has to protest for everything? Why can't NHAI do their job properly by planning properly for the area?

In my area, there is hardly any KSRTC buses for local travels. It's mainly dominated by Private buses on routes of Kozhikode-Koyilandy, Kozhikode-Kannur, Kozhikode-Vadakara, etc. KSRTC runs on long routes though. All were using the same road before. Now i guess non-limited-stop buses will have to use service road. But Yea, I hope some solution is provided by the govt and it's not on the people to find a solution to unscrew NHAI's screw-up?


Lulu is in a city, isn't it? So it's more of a Lulu problem that they don't have enough parking space I guess.
I was talking about people who lives in their homes in non-city areas where there is plenty of parking space. Nobody is going to park their vehicles on road overnight like in many cities people do.

Sadly that's the problem with NHAI, not just in Kerala but throughout India, their planning is usually solving yesterday's problem with no vision for tomorrow,
in most places there was no plan for bus stops until one revision in DPR, bus stops were added in the spots

I'm hoping for the same, considering how improvements are being made with K-Swift, but then people tell me- "You know how Kerala Government is na" that time lose a bit of hope

Great to see progress on the highway part. Remember during my stay in 90s, there was a plan for the same, but people were on the streets saying there is a plan to divide the state into two. Good that it is happening now.

Hello Everyone.

I have been regularly driving this route since 2019, from Cherthala to Mangalore/Mangaluru. While the road surface was mostly fine and the route is scenic, the entire stretch was a single-lane undivided carriageway and would take around 12 hours one way, irrespective of what time one would start.

Nowadays thanks to VandeBharath Train service, I rarely drive unless I have to travel around Mangalore or visit another city like Udupi/Kundapur/Bangalore/Mysore.

As other members have said, the construction is going on in full swing, more in the Northern part of the state, compared to the south, with parts of the highway open to traffic.

Attaching some photos of the road conditions (only the construction completed areas.)




I cannot wait for the day that this road gets completed and makes the current 12+ hour journey to a duration of less than half of that.

Can’t wait to drive from Thiruvananthapuram to Mookambika by road. clap:

Have done TVM-EKM shuttles frequently, but northwards has always been by train or bus. Except for one emergency TVM- Manipal-TVM non-stop drive to rescue my kid bro a day before the lockdown started that still remains a feverish memory.

Though sadly, in the southern end of the stretch after Kovalam, local lobbying and intervention of our global citizen MP meant there are two unnecessary junctions (replete with Tamilnadu style steel road barriers to break speed)near Kanjiramkulam part. Though other than the city parts in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam, I hope it is a completely signal/junction free stretch from end to end.

And to think that V S Achuthanandan was adamant on 30m width and opposed the widening if it was any more. I guess only Kerala and Goa got the 45m exemption. Rest all are built or upgraded to 60m specs. Any idea of how the exit/entry ramps are designed? Kazhakootam to Kovalam has normal traffic junctions. Kovalam to Karode is traffic signal free, but the exit/entry ramps are comically small, and you would have to slow down to 20-30 km/h to safely exit the highway into the service roads. Curious to see how they have designed the exit/entry in the 6 lane sections of north.

True. The concrete barrier as medians is a serious compromise. The Kazhakootam to Karode stretch is 4 lane only, but there is atleast a healthy wide median with small shrubs/plants help to cut out the headlight glare from oncoming traffic. The median was kept in mind for future metrorail construction. If so, will happily choose a metro and 4 lane highway over just a compromised 6 lane highway.

Sadly from Kovalam southwards it shall remain 4 lane only. Reason is that the highway was built cutting through small hills and undulations. So you have the main carriageway at a decent level surface, but the service roads are cartoonishly climbing up and down roller coaster style. Part of the reason why it shall remain naturally access controlled and won’t have locals cutting the side barriers to ease their bikes in. Have to see how it handles the container traffic when Vizhinjam port is at full swing.

But the saddest thing is from Kovalam southwards till Kanyakumari it is damn concrete roads:Frustrati. Rest of Kerala gets proper tarred roads. And the concrete roads is planned to go till Kanyakumari. Long life, low maintenance blah blah. But it should be laid properly in the first place. This one gives a proper workout for the suspension and acts like a natural speed controller.
The Tamilnadu side is even more slow and has seen contractors change when the regime changed. But from the parts that I have seen, service roads were not there and it doesn’t seem to be access controlled. Have to wait and see.

More than speed, it should be lane manners. Know it sounds evil, but there should be bloodshed for the first year and a half. From my observations in recently widened roads, accidents and even death numbers will rise in the first one and a half years. After that people will be wary of the speed and drive accordingly. 2/3 wheelers will take the left lane. 4/6/10/12/18 wheelers will use the right lane. People will use indicators to change lanes. Chaos will occur only when the average traffic speed falls below 30-40km/h.

I can understand and empathise, but have to take a distant view because I can afford to. I do live and have a business by the roadside of the erstwhile NH47, but escaped since the NH66 in Thiruvananthapuram is mostly a greenfield project that aligns with the bypass than widening the old TVM-Kanyakumari stretch as it is super highly populated and urbanized. Even if the now under state govt controlled Karamana-Kaliyikavila widening reaches my doorstep, the now 1940s era wide road would become a 30m wide urban road with no access control atmost.

Having said that, the widening state wide is bound to affect the social/daily life as for many reasons Kerala had urbanized in a linear manner along the highway. Except for the major cities, rest all major areas were concentrated alongside the old NH47 and NH17. But when we go even further back, before bridges were constructed, this river criss-crossed state used to be cut off and depended on boats to cross even a small stretch of 10-15kms. So yes. Social fabric and current way of living are bound to change overtime. We cannot hold onto the good ole “how will Chandrettan walk his cow across the road to graze on the other side” forever. Even if pedestrian overbridges are provided, I don’t think elders would use them.

About the waterfalls and waterlogging. Sadly, Indian infra planning is always reactive than proactive. Only relief is that in Kerala the people will make enough noise so that these issues are rectified.

Thankfully with mostly independent houses and apartments with ample parking, parking in public places overnight isn’t really a thing in Kerala. Though recently have seen people parking even 20 lakh cars on the roadside (mostly wedding gift types) as they don’t have space or motorable roads to their house. If the government implements a ‘show parking space to register vehicle’ rule now, it won’t seem discriminatory and be actually visionary. If they are going to react to it Indian style after the problem arises, then…

BTW, the parking in front of LULU TVM depends on the traffic police whims and fancies. Sometimes they won’t allow anyone to even stop by the roadside, let alone park there. Other days, it is free for all. And no, its not a weekend thing either.