Kochiites can soon go skywalking

KOCHI: If everything goes as expected, Kochi will soon get Kerala’s first skywalk project in Vytilla. In a major initiative which could be a permanent solution for the city’s traffic congestion, the Road Safety Council has given the green signal for the project, a brainchild of District Collector Sheik Pareeth.The Road Safety Council chaired by Chief Secretary P Prabhakaran has given the approval for the project which will be carried out in consultation with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). As part of the project a flyover will be constructed. The road safety committee will hold discussions with NHAI in this regard.District Collector Sheik Pareeth said that Ernakulam district will get `6 crore for this project from the `19 crore allotted for road safety. The steel frame skywalk will be 10-metre wide and 50-metre long and will have aluminium flooring, he said. The project will be completed within three months. The skywalk will have facilities such as shopping malls, hotels, ATM, security box and public toilets. As the name goes, it would be literally a skywalk where people can have a picturesque view of the sky. The project also includes an escalator, which will be of help during peak hours, he said. The District Collector assured that the skywalk would be of international standard.  Skywalks will also be built in Kaloor and Kacheripady, he saidThe project has been designed  to ease traffic chaos and pedestrian crossing at the junction. Following the Collector’s instruction, Ashok Kumar, an engineer of Ashok Associates in Thiruvananthapuram, designed the project.