The BMC has, so far, resurfaced a total of 10.5 km stretch of the Eastern Freeway, which was earlier in a state of disrepair. According to the civic officials, micro surfacing technology is being used for the first time for such works. The method will not only add to the freeway's durability but also increase the infrastructure's life by four-five years. Notably, micro surfacing technology doesn't take much time to perform the job and motorists can be allowed to ply within two hours of the work. To avoid disruption to vehicular movement, the BMC works between 12 am to 4 am. However, just one kilometer can be resurfaced in a day.
Describing the technique in detail, the officials said that the first step is to strip the asphalt layer up to six inches and subsequently a new layer is applied up to eight millimetres deep. The mixture includes binder, cement, emulsion, water and gravel. It's hard pressed on roads with the help of sophisticated machines.
'Remaining work will be finished soon'
Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Infrastructure) Ulhas Mahale said, “The resurfacing work began after Diwali in a phased manner. So far, we have paved the nine-km-long stretch from Wadala's Bhakti Park to P D'Mello Road in south Mumbai. Similarly, one-and-a-half km has been resurfaced on the second lane. The remaining work will be finished soon.”
The BMC is also washing the freeway, clearing debris, painting the walls, planting saplings and fixing leakage. In 2022, the Eastern Freeway changed hands from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to the BMC. Accordingly, tenders to repair it were floated in May this year. However, the work could only begin after Diwali owing to the monsoon.
