A four-member engineering team from the National Institute of Technology-Calicut inspected the Kochi Metro corridor along Sahodaran Ayyappan Road on Friday after dangerous bumps reappeared on the carriageway, creating a road-safety hazard for motorists and two-wheeler riders.
The inspection focused on the 3.10-km stretch between Vyttila Metro station and Manorama Junction, where sections of the bitumen road have settled around the rigid pile caps supporting Metro pillars. The uneven settlement has exposed hard concrete bases and created bumps measuring about three to four inches in height.
The hazards are particularly difficult for riders to identify at night, according to the report. The sudden changes in road level can affect vehicle control, especially on a busy urban corridor used by commuters travelling through one of Kochi’s major transport routes.
The NIT-Calicut team, led by MVLR Anjaneyulu of the civil engineering department, collected soil samples during the inspection. Anjaneyulu said a detailed study would be conducted and a report submitted to the Kochi corporation within 15 days. The study is expected to examine the cause of the recurring sinkage and identify a permanent method of repairing the road surface.
The immediate problem is the different behaviour of the road surface and the Metro structures beneath it. The pile caps are rigid concrete elements, while the surrounding road formation can settle when soil or supporting layers lose stability. The report, however, does not specify the precise technical cause of the settlement or the repair design recommended by the experts.
The Kochi corporation had previously carried out tarring on the affected stretch, but the road around the Metro pile caps sank again. The recurrence prompted the civic body to seek an expert assessment rather than continue with surface-level repairs. The NIT-Calicut inspection is therefore intended to move the response towards a longer-term rectification plan.
The issue has also been taken up by the Kerala High Court. The court directed the corporation to carry out rectification measures along the affected 3.10-km stretch within four months. The report does not provide the date of the court direction or detail how the deadline will be measured, but the order places responsibility for addressing the road condition on the civic authority.
For road users, the central concern is not only the quality of the resurfacing but also how the roadway performs around large, permanent infrastructure elements. Repeated settlement can create maintenance risks when repairs restore the top layer without resolving problems in the soil or substructure below it. The expert report is expected to establish the basis for the next stage of work.
The Kochi corporation’s immediate next step is to receive the NIT-Calicut team’s report within 15 days and use its findings to plan rectification measures on the affected corridor. Until then, the extent of the required intervention and the final repair method remain undetermined.
