Mumbaikars brace for more traffic snarls on WEH; airport underpass to be ready by 2024

Mumbai: The work on a new vehicular underpass to enter Terminal 1 (T1) of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and exit from Terminal 2 (T2) towards Andheri-Borivali will commence soon.

While the underpass and an elevated road are being constructed to ease congestion on Western Express Highway (WEH), motorists, in fact, must brace for traffic snarls until the project is completed by mid-2024.

810m underpass to end at the Hanuman Road bus stop

At present, there is an underpass to enter T2. After exiting T2, one must take a U-turn from Vile Parle airport flyover to go towards Andheri-Borivali. The bhumi poojan for the new underpass was done by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in May 2021. It was later reviewed and redesigned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The 810 metre underpass will end at the Hanuman Road bus stop on WEH and run right above the existing underpass. For this design, the height of WEH will also have to be raised. The earlier plan was to go deeper below the operational underpass.

Though the revised project, at an estimated cost of Rs 60.51 crore, will save only a few hundred metres of road travel, it will substantially cut down on travel time.

An MMRDA official said, “Manpower and machinery are likely to be mobilised for the actual ground work only in early 2023. While a traffic management plan will be in place during this period, we will make all possible attempts to ensure finishing earlier than planned.”

Meanwhile, another vehicular underpass is still on the drawing board. It will connect Bandra to T1 without a traffic signal below the airport flyover.