11 December,2010 08:23 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
The Sahar elevated road project is expected to bring the travel time from the Western Express Highway to the international airport from 45 minutes to a zippy five but not before may 2011, claims MMRDA
Sahar Elevated Road
Do you have nightmares of being stranded in traffic and missing your all-important international flight?
The bottlenecks on the Western Express Highway and Sahar Road have given heart attacks to many travelers in the past, and the only glimmer of hope to ease that problem lies in the Sahar Elevated Road project that is currently under construction. The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) says that the project should be up and running by mid-2011.
Traffic jams
There have been many instances in the past when passengers going to Mumbai International Airport have missed their flights due to the traffic congestion on Sahar Road during peak hours.
A traffic official on the Sahar stretch told MiD-DAY that mile-long jams on this stretch have become a daily affair.
"The flow of traffic towards the airport is more in the evening and as the WEH is in bad shape before the Andheri Flyover, traffic moves at a slow pace and at times it becomes nearly impossible to control the flow."
"This ordeal will continue till the time the Sahar Elevated Road is thrown open to the public," he added.
Signal breaks
Hitendra Pachkale (26), employed with a private custom clearing agency at Sahar, says that the congestion is caused by the high number of traffic signals on the stretch.
"This congestion can be reduced only if the traffic police monitor the flow of vehicles properly, which is quite haphazard most of the time."
Taking note of the increasing number of vehicles that travel towards the airport, MMRDA decided to construct a 2 km elevated road on the Sahar stretch and construction began in December 2008.
Almost there
MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar said, "The main aim behind taking on this project was to provide smooth and better journey to passengers from and to the international airport. More than 75 per cent work on the project has been completed and it will be thrown open for traffic by May 2011."
The six lane elevated approach will have four entry and two exit points. The length of the proposed road is 2 km and the cost of project is Rs 287.37 crore. This road is funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
This project will help ease out the traffic congestion at Bahar Junction under the Andheri flyover and Sahar Road and will provide a sigh of relief to air travelers particularly who have to combat heavy traffic in order to reach the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on time.
The elevated road has been planned to provide an enhanced level of service as well as to accommodate expected increase in air traffic.
The MMRDA official also said, "We are confident of completing the project before deadline as the major hurdle of resettlement of some of the structures that were coming in the path of projects has been solved."
Project Name: Sahar Elevated Road
Total length: 2 Km
Work started: December 2008
Date of completion: May 2011
Total cost: R287.37 crore
Present status: 50 per cent work completed
Did you know?
MMRDA has successfully resettled 700 Project affected persons (PAPs) that were stalling the project. The PAPs were the residents of Baman Vada, Ambedkar Nagar and Rajaram Wadi near the Western Express Highway.
Route
The Sahar six-lane elevated approach road will have four entry and two exit points
Will East meet east?
eastern freeway project is running behind schedule and is expected to take another three months to complete
Eastern Freeway
The dream of zipping from Ghatkopar to CST bypassing 28 traffic signals will take some more time to transform into reality, as the 22 km Eastern Freeway project is running behind schedule.
MMRDA was expected to complete the project by July 2011u00a0 but a lot of civil work at various nodes of the project is still pending.
Three months
A senior MMRDA official, on condition of anonymity said, "The project will be delayed by at least three months as civil work at some places is still pending."
However, MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar denied that the project would be delayed. "The project will be completed by May 2011.
There will be no delay as we have sorted the Salt Pan issue which was seen as the major hurdle for the project. More than 70 per cent work is already complete," claimed Kawatkar.
Project Name: Eastern Freeway
Total length: 22Km
Work started: December 2008
Date of completion: July 2011
Total cost: R531 crore
Present status:70% work completed
Benefits
Traffic decongestion: Once completed the road will help in solving the traffic of vehicles on P D'Mello can zip from south Mumbai to Ghatkopar in less time.
No signals: The Eastern Freeway promises to bypass 28 traffic signals, and starts from the Prince of Wales museum in Fort.
The free way will also provide direct connectivity to new CST Terminus and facilitate transportation of goods to and from the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) area.
Did you know?
The 22 km Eastern Freeway runs from South Mumbai (CST) up to Ghatkopar via P D'Mello Road, MbPT Road, Anik and Panjrapol.
Route
The project will be completed in three phases
The first 12-km-stretch from Fort to Anik depot that includes P D'Mello Roadu00a0
The second 5-km-phase from Anik to Panjarpol Link Road (Shivaji Square);u00a0
Panjarpol to Mankhurd and then to Ghatkopar on the Eastern Express Highway.
Freeway
The 22 km Eastern Freeway runs from South Mumbai (CST) up to Ghatkopar via P D'Mello Road, MbPT Road, Anik and Panjrapol
No more delays
Due to heavy traffic and congestion on the Western Express Highway duringu00a0 peak hours passengers often get stuck in traffic, and end up missing their flights. However, once the project is completed it will help passengersu00a0 reach the airport on time.
