Thanekars and Mumbaikars are in for a new year’s gift from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).The much awaited Kopri Railway Over Bridge will be open for the public in the second week of January in 2023, MMRDA Commissioner SVR Srinivas told FPJ correspondent on Sunday.
The Eastern Express Highway widening work above the railway tracks at Kopri from four lanes to eightlanes is in the final stage. MMRDA officials have ordered the overseeing officials to speed up the work and complete it by the end of December 2022.
“The second phase of Kopri bridge is the final one. It will ease the traffic and will also reduce the travel time by 30 minutes. Currently there are four lanes,there will be eight lanes by the second week of January, 2023. As of now 90 percent of work is completed. Once the widened Kopri ROB is open, it will provide a huge relief to motorists from eastern suburbs of Mumbai and Thane," the MMRDA chief informed FPJ.
"Earlier in October, we placed a network of girders above a subway by four cranes. Last year MMRDA completed the first phase and started the execution of the second phase at a cost of Rs 258 crore to add four more lanes to the existing highway.
Also, girders over railway tracks will be launched soon and the concretisation of approach roads on the new lanes will be done on a priority basis,” he added. "The bridge will be helpful for the motorists traveling between Mumbai-Navi Mumbai and Thane, Gujarat and Nashik,” he said.
"It will be a great relief for Thanekars if the MMRDA keep their word and open the bridge in the second week of January. The new bridge will ease traffic problems faced by Thanekars, who now waste more than an hour in the traffic on EEH,” Thane resident Ralph D'mello said.
Swapnil Mahindrakar, a social activist from Thane, however, exercises caution. "The Kopri ROB has been in news for the last few years about its inauguration and many other reasons. The delay in the work has increased the cost of its execution. I have heard that MMRDA is deciding to open the bridge in just two months time and it will be a new year gift for Thanekars. I will comment on it only once it starts."
