27 April,2023 07:24 AM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
The Thane creek bridge on November 4, 2020. Pic/Sameer Markande
Taking note of vehicular accidents that have been taking place on the Thane creek bridge for years, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has decided to put in place corrective measures to prevent mishaps on the structure.
An MSRDC official said, "Several accidents have taken place on the Thane creek bridge before the Vashi toll plaza. A black spot has been identified and tenders have been invited for implementing corrective safety measures to prevent accidents."
Work on two new Thane creek bridges is in progress and once completed, they will help decongest the Sion-Panvel highway near the Vashi toll plaza, which frequently sees traffic jams.
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The highway is a 10-lane road. Motorists heading towards and leaving Mumbai to get stuck in traffic on the Thane creek bridge as it has only six lanes. Often, accidents take place on the bridge and MSRDC has identified the black spot.
The toll plaza at Vashi has 10 lanes but in order to avoid traffic jams at morning and evening peak hours, the capacity of the plaza is increased to 16 by putting up barricades. The MSRDC is constructing a new toll plaza near Vashi village with 10 more lanes to solve the traffic jam issue permanently.
Currently, two bridges passing over Thane creek run parallel to each other. The first bridge, with two lanes, was thrown open in 1973. After it showed signs of corrosion, a six-lane link was constructed in 1997. The old bridge is now closed while the second one is used by thousands of motorists every day.
The MSRDC authorities expect the volume of vehicular traffic to increase in the near future as an international airport is coming up at Navi Mumbai and the new bridges will help ease traffic. Considering an increase in the number of regular motorists heading towards Pune, additional lanes were also required to channel the traffic.
1997
Year 2nd bridge was opened
