27 June,2019 07:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
Final phase of work on the connector is currently on at BKC. Pics/Pradip Dhivar
Regular commuters on the BKC to Eastern Express Highway route are finally set to get some relief from the traffic they face near the Kurla-Sion Bandra Link Road stretch as work on the elevated road connecting BKC with Chunabhatti is nearing completion. The road will be thrown open to the public by September.
Metropolitan Commissioner R A Rajeev told mid-day that construction work on the BKC-Chunabhatti elevated connector has been completed. "Only blacktopping (surfacing with tar) the road is pending which will be done post monsoon and the road will be thrown open for motorists in September," he said.
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Blacktopping can be done in monsoon too but that would mean an early invitation to potholes since the tar mixture does not settle properly in moisture conditions.
Last month, the MMRDA launched six major girders each over Sion Rail Over Bridge (ROB) and Chunabhatti Rail Over Bridge (ROB). The 52-meter long girders at Sion weighed 480 tonnes and the 60-meter long at Chunabhatti weighed 600 tonnes. The heavy-duty activity helped MMRDA construct a bridge across the Mithi River along with a Rail Over Bridge over Central Railway tracks near Sion station and over Harbour Railway tracks near Chunabhatti station.
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The BKC-Chunabhatti link road will help commuters reach Eastern Express Highway in much lesser time
The Rs 155-crore Elevated Connector from BKC to EEH is expected to decongest traffic in the Sion-Dharavi area, reducing the journey by three kilometres, and travel time by 30 minutes.
At present motorists take more than 30 minutes to reach BKC from Chunabhatti as they get stuck in traffic near Sion circle and on the Sion-Dharavi link road. Work on the BKC-Chunabhatti connector had begun in April 2015.
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