MMRDA to close 4 lanes on EEH near Sion for construction of Chunabhatti-BKC link road
Representational Image. Picture Courtesy: Skyscrapercity.com
Motorists travelling from Thane or Navi Mumbai towards Sion or vice versa are in for a tough few months as Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) plans to barricade multiple lanes on each sides of the highway for the construction of the Chunabhatti-BKC link road.
MMRDA will barricade total four lanes, two on each side, near the Somaiya football ground to carry out the construction work from Monday. The construction from the BKC end started earlier this year.
According to an HT report, ramps for the 1.6 km elevated road will require 300 to 400 metre stretch of highway to be barricaded.
At present, the biggest bottleneck on the highway is the stretch under the Sion flyover.
During morning peak hours, a large number of motorists from the eastern suburbs have to take the route to travel to South Bombay, which creates massive traffic snarls. The same process repeats during evenings, when they’re on their way back.
The closure of two more lanes on each sides is bound the make the lives of daily commuters even more difficult.
In a bid to provide some relief to motorists during the construction period, MMRDA and traffic police have decided to divert traffic to the service roads on both sides of the highway. The service roads on both sides have two lanes each, which will help managing the traffic flow to some extent.
According to Prakash Mamdapure, engineer-in-chief at MMRDA, the construction work of the ramps will begin on Monday.
Since the ramps will be built in the middle of the road, the lanes adjacent to the divider will be barricaded.
The proposed elevated road will start from G-Block of Bandra Kurla Complex and after crossing Mithi River, LBS Marg, Central Railway track and VN Mankikar Road, lead to Chunabhatti Railway station. Then it will cross the Harbour Railway track, pass through Somaiya Trust Ground and join the Eastern Express Highway.
The Rs 156 crore project, which is expected to reduce the travel time by 20-25 minutes and decongest Sion-Dharavi road, was awarded back in August 2014. But the permission from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) came earlier this year, following which the construction began.
