Motorists will soon bid bye to traffic snarls, especially in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), as work of the much awaited Santacruz-Chembur Link Road extension and the Bandra-Vakola elevated flyover will be completed by the end of 2020.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which has undertaken the project, has completed about 45 per cent of the construction work so far, and aiming to open it for motorist by this year.
The two connectivity will ensure smooth vehicular movement and reduce the existing congestion in BKC, city's central business hub with several corporate offices located here. Once ready, it will clear the bottleneck at Kurla and BKC, making it free of congestion. The extension of SCLR will reduce massive traffic jam in Kurla (West) and near Kapadia junction, according to the MMRDA.
The SCLR extension is 3,500 metres long, starting near Kapadia Nagar junction and ending at Western Express Highway near Vakola Junction. The project costing Rs 481 crore will be a four-lane flyover with one arm going towards Kurla and another arm going towards BKC. Similarly, the BKC-Vakola elevated road is 1,200 metres with two lanes on each side. The elevated road is being constructed at a cost of Rs 264 crore, approximately.
BKC-Vakola elevated road route
The entire elevated route of BKC-Vakola has been divided into two parts. The first part includes connectivity between Bharat Dimond Bourse in BKC and Vakola Junction. While, in the second part, another 400-metre-long road will be built, providing additional connectivity between BKC and SCLR.
Currently, motorists have to travel 3.8 km through Pipeline Road, parallel to WEH, and bypass the government colony to reach Bharat Diamond Bourse in BKC. Another option is to take a 5km-long route through Kalanagar. Once ready, commuters will not be required to travel up to Kalanagar to enter BKC, saving about 20-30 minutes.
SCLR extension route
SCLR extension will originate from Kapadia Nagar near Kurla and terminate at the WEH near Vakola. During peak hours, BKC and Kalina Roads witness heavy traffic, which results in more congestion in BKC; thus, the extension of SCLR has been undertaken to remove these bottlenecks.
Kalanagar Junction decongestion:Similarly, the MMRDA is also building two flyovers — one from BKC to the Sea Link (714metres) and the other from the Sea Link to BKC (640 metres)— to decongest the arterial Kalanagar junction on the WEH and the BKC junction, which sees heavy traffic during peak hours at a cost of Rs 90.87 crore, approximately. The two flyovers will be ready by March 2020, according to the MMRDA.
Apart from the two flyovers, a road is also being laid to streamline the traffic from Dharavi to the Sea Link, which will be 310 metres long. So far, the MMRDA has managed to complete overall 51 per cent of the construction work.
