Long-awaited Karavali Junction Underpass Opens for Vehicle Movement
Udupi: The long-awaited underpass on National Highway 66 at Karavali Junction here opened for vehicle movement on Friday, October 26.
This underpass on NH 66 connecting Mangaluru with Kundapur at Karavali Junction is 800 metres long. This road has six lanes with a divider in between. The road on both the right and left side of the divider is 11 metres wide.
Below the underpass are two 10.5-metre wide boxes. These two boxes have been constructed to connect Udupi with Malpe, which is now part of Malpe-Tirthalli National Highway 169A, which is also under construction.
Due to the opening of the underpass, vehicles from Mangaluru to Kundapur-Karwar can pass through without going through the Karavali Junction and vice-versa. With one of the boxes below the underpass also being open, vehicles going from Udupi-Manipal to Malpe fisheries harbour and Malpe beach too have been moving smoothly without having to take a long turn.
Earlier the vehicles going from Udupi to Malpe beach had to move on the service road constructed on the eastern side below the underpass (NH 66) and take a long turn and join the service road on the western side and then travel to Malpe.
The same is the case on the return journey where vehicles coming from Malpe have to join the service road on the western side of the underpass and then take a long turn and join the service road on the eastern side and reach Udupi.
As a result of the underpass, there is now smooth movement of traffic on both the National Highway 66 and the NH 169A at Karavali Junction. The traffic snarls near the Karavali Hotel have now become a thing of the past.
Pics by Ankith Shetty
Whoever approved the opening of the flyover on the Adi Udupi/Udupi Junction, as the road works is not complete – there are no lanes marked, the divider is incomplete, the flyover is not painted, and the lighting too must be not working. Why does the Minister In-Charge of Udupi allow such half done jobs in a hurry just to meet the Nov. 1 deadline, when the Contractor could not even complete the 25 meter flyover with 2 underpasses that are still not complete – in a span of 6 years! Udupi people should protest such half done works as they… Read more »