Vypeen-Munambam road turns a death trap

The Vypeen-Munambam road continues to remain a killing field with no solid steps yet to address the long-pending demand to develop the accident prone stretch. Accidents on the road have claimed 100 lives in the past five years besides severely injuring 95 people. The distressing figures were presented by Vypeen MLA K.N. Unnikrishnan in the Assembly recently in a submission calling for measures to resolve the crisis persisting in the lone State highway in the constituency.

According to the MLA, a total of 1,432 accidents were reported from the stretch from 2021 to 2025. As many as 2,949 people were injured in the accidents. Previous data, which says the stretch witnessed 91 fatal accidents between 2018 and 2022, shows the crisis has only escalated over the years.

The MLA has highlighted the need for new roads as well as new bridges in parallel to the Goshree bridges to bring a long-term solution to the road safety woes. He had specifically sought budgetary allocations for the proposed coastal road, Goshree parallel bridges and Elamkunnapuzha- Pookkad bridge to ease traffic congestion on Vypeen-Munambam stretch.

“If the required infrastructure facilities are not constructed, the people who live in and pass through Vypeen will continue to face threat to their lives and the commercial and tourism sectors in the region will be in a limbo,” the MLA said.

Sources with the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) have attested to the concerns raised by the MLA. They cited congestion on the road caused by a lack of width and high density of vehicles as the major reason for the accidents. “The density of vehicles on the stretch has been increasing due to various factors, including increased connectivity from the city even at night and development of beach tourism, while the width of the road has remained the same. Lack of footpath adds to the crisis. More roads, along or over the stretch, are a necessity,” a senior MVD official said. The commissioning of the Azheekode-Munambam bridge is expected to increase vehicle flow along stretch and worsen the crisis, the official said, echoing the MLA’s concern.

Responding to the submission, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal had said that the government would consider the proposals for Goshree parallel bridges and Pookkad bridge with due seriousness. The Minister announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for the development of 15 roads including the Vypeen-Munambam stretch as part of the second phase of the World bank-aided Kerala State Transport Project.