Third bridge connecting the satellite city from Vikhroli has been postponed due to the Sewri Trans Harbour Link
Third bridge connecting the satellite city from Vikhroli has been postponed due to the Sewri Trans Harbour Link
More than two lakh Mumbaikars who commute between the city and Navi Mumbai will have to wait much longer
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future perfect? The Trans-Harbour Link is expected to reduce the load on the Vashi Bridge, which caters to 1,29,000 vehicles daily. file pic |
for a breather from their traffic woes. Theu00a0 Vikhroli-Koparkhairane bridge, which would have eased the traffic congestion on the Mulund-Airoli bridge and the Vashi bridge, will only remain only on the drawing board for now, as work on the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) is stalled.
U P S Madan, project director, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU), a government agency working on infrastructure projects for Mumbai, said, "We are presently concentrating on MTHL. Work on the Vikhroli-Koparhhairane bridge has been put on hold and will begin only after MTHL is initiated."
As a result, all further work on the Vikhroli-Koparkhairane bridge, including the work on the alignment of the bridge has come to a halt. The news comes as a blow to those who travel via the existing two bridges. Both these bridges suffer from traffic problems. The 1.03 km-long Mulund-Airoli bridge sees as many as 55,000 vehicles everyday, while the 1.83 km Vashi bridge caters to at least 1,29,000 vehicles daily.
"This third bridge would have definitely reduced the load on the other bridges. I would have preferred taking this bridge, as there would have been lesser traffic," said Sudhakar More from Mulund.
According to sources in the MMRDA, the third bridge would have reduced the traffic on these two roads by
12-15 per cent.
But for now, the bumper-to-bumper traffic will get no respite.
Vehicles on Airoli bridge daily
Mumbai to Thane: 26,697
Thane to Mumbai: 28,430
Vehicles on Vashi bridge daily
Mumbai to Navi Mumbai: 68,738
Navi Mumbai to Mumbai: 60,485
What is MTHL?
The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link is a 22-km road connecting Sewri with Nhava Sheva. Work is still in its initial stages. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 6,000 crore.
