A long standing issue that had partially stalled work on the Santacruz Chembur Link Road Extension project has finally been resolved with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) redesigning a portion of the project and skirting Defence land to complete the elevated road’s construction.
With this crucial challenge overcome, the implementing agency is looking at completing the entire project by June 2023. The extension project work had commenced in 2016 with a 2019 deadline, but was repeatedly getting revised due to lack of resolution and acquisition of a small plot from the Ministry of Defence.
“We have altered the design and now do not require the Defence land any more. We have resumed construction work,” said S V R Srinivas, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.
As per the altered design of Santacruz Chembur Link Road Extension at the Vakola end, now the elevated road will skirt the Defence land and only a portion of the structure will touch the property’s air space.
Other than this, adjacent to the plot was a utility related issue for which coordination and clearance among MMRDA, civic authorities, and Defence representatives was required. In-principle approval has been received from Delhi based authorities to divert sewage lines.
“The design for cable-stayed bridge has also been finalised for the elevated corridor to cross the Western Express Highway and land beyond Vakola Junction. The extension road will pass above the existing Vakola Flyover,” informed Srinivas.
The project was conceptualised to have seamless, signal-free connectivity between the Eastern and Western express highways. It has been split into two phases. The first phase involves a 1.2 km long elevated corridor between MTNL Junction in Bandra Kurla Complex to LBS Road at Kurla, which is 80% ready and is scheduled to be opened for traffic in April next year.
The second phase of the elevated road is 3.8 km long and goes via Kalina to land at Vakola Junction at Santacruz East with a deadline of June 2023. When the ground work commenced in 2016, the cost was pegged at Rs 481 crore, due to delay during the implementation period cost has shot up substantially.
After almost a decade of construction, the 6.5-km long Santacruz Chembur Link Road was opened in April 2014 and provided Mumbai with an additional East-West arterial connectivity road. This resulted in reducing traffic congestion along Sion-Dharavi road.
