The Meppadi to Anakampoyil tunnel project through a place called Kalladi is a ambitious civil engineering venture in many ways.I have tried to understand it fully but only with partial success but still enthusiasts of this venture can enlighten me about this further.
To my understanding the Western Ghat mountains within these points is barely some eight kilometers and writ with streams and hilly formations.A tunnel some six kilometers long struck through the mountains and a bridge some two kilometers long would do the trick of connecting Anakampoyil to Meppadi.
This immediately means that the Ghat road called the Thamarassery ghats would no longer be needed to ferry from Mysore to Calicut which for all practical purposes would transfer to a eight kilometer stretch through the tunnel in the mountain ranges saving nearly one hour of travel time. At present the Thamarassery ghat section is some twelve kilometres end to end and it takes one hour to clear it which indicates a travel speed of some 10kmph.The general travel strain faced crossing the ghats would be eliminated and reduces travel risks on the Ghat stretch.
This will have far reaching consequences on NIT Calicut which means a four lane stretch through the campus is in-evitable considering that to reach Calicut from Anakampoyil a transgression through NIT Calicut is the only option.The load factor on this road will be like the one seen in front of NIT Suratkal which harbours the Mangalore-Mumbai highway.
The generic visibility of NIT Calicut would expand many fold as it is on an important transport artery which will face various forms of challenges with time.The generic peace an institution should enjoy could be at stake.
One option is to fully widen the road through NIT into a four lane which means the sound of vehicles will mar the people in the hostels and this will also need demolition of buildings near the road-to some extent a less acceptable option.Another option would be to set up a four lane flyover all the way from Kettangal upto the Chatamangalam hills ahead of the 12th mile bus stop totally by-passing the institute which would a acceptable option in many ways.The final option would be more cumbersome and would be to put a four lane tunnel road from Kattangal to Chatamangalam hills saving NIT Calicut of all possible maladies. However the other option would be to put a ring road from places like kattangal to the main road fully bypassing the institute. The idea is to be more astute before-hand so that the best option both economically and otherwise can be arrived lest some mistake is made which could lead to some form of perennial discomfort.
The Wayanad hill tunnel can have environmental implications. One must understand water from the Ghat mountains create rivers and any inadvertent damning of some river can lead to water short-fall downstream. The destiny of Calicut is going to change for ever that is for sure because it brings Calicut closer to Mysore and Bangalore in terms of temporal proximity adding economic upheavals along this corridor. To my understanding a railway line could also be formed along thhis stretch.
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