Holiday rush: It's chock-a-block on Thamarassery Ghat Road

Thamarassery Ghat Road is experiencing heavy congestion mainly due to an increase in traffic volume the day before Vishu. The congestion started around 8 am on Saturday. There was no let-up in the traffic snarl till evening. Many vehicles developed snags at hairpin curves and this worsened the situation.

Many people travel to Wayanadu as part of the Vishu holidays and summer vacation. The travellers to Mysore and Hyderabad also take this route leading to a spurt in several vehicles traversing along the road.  The Kalpetta - Kozhikode route has also become congested. Minor accidents on the road also cause traffic congestion.

From the Adivaram, vehicles are moving at a snail's pace. Hairpin curves begin after a distance of 12 km between Adivaram and Lakkidi. "Normally, a vehicle from Adivaram to Lakkidy, where the ghat road starts, can reach within 40/45 minutes. But now it takes nearly two hours," said Deepu Sukumaran, representative of Churam Samrakshana Samithy, a volunteering organisation to support travellers on the road.

Lack of adherence to traffic rules is also cited as a reason for traffic blocks on the road. Some drivers try overtaking other vehicles even on the bottleneck curve between the 7th and the 8th hairpin curves. There is also a lack of enough traffic personnel to regulate the vehicles. The volunteers are directing the travellers to adhere to the traffic rules and keep enough food while travelling in case they get stuck for longer hours.