A landmark work will be achieved on the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) with the completion of the deck work in the next 10 days, an official said on Thursday.
Work is in the final stages to get the deck slab ready end-to-end, said SVR Srinivas, Metropolitan Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). “Mostly, by May 26, the deck slab will be ready.”
In engineering parlance, when two ends of a bridge are attached it is called a “handshake”. In the case of Sewri-Nhava sea bridge, this will soon happen as only 180 metres of deck of the total 16.5-kilometre length of the bridge remains. Once this is done, a vehicle can be driven from one end of the bridge to the other.
Timeline of MTHL works | FPJ
The entire length of the project is 22 kilometres, including 5.5 kilometres of approach roads on either side.
When done, the work will move to the next stage – installation of crash barriers, waterproofing of the engineering superstructure, asphalting of the deck, erection of view cutters, creation of toll area, and installation of security and surveillance system, etc. So far 95% of the work has been completed. Early on May 9, the last orthotropic steel deck was launched on MTHL.
MTHL scheduled for completion in November
Srinivas added that open road tolling will be put in place in the next few months.
This six-lane bridge is scheduled for completion in November and the revised cost stands at Rs17,843 crore. Japan International Cooperation Agency is financing 85% of the project.
Open road tolling is a system that eliminates the requirement of human interaction as well as toll booths. Toll collection happens electronically. Only a gantry is erected that has sensors and systems installed to facilitate the required transaction.
