Two bridges — of three lanes each — have been planned by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in a stretch that is parallel to the Vashi Bridge over the Thane creek. Authorities say that the proposed bridge will help provide better connectivity between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, while getting rid of the bottlenecks and traffic jams. The current bridge has fewer lanes, thus making entering and exiting Mumbai a Heculean task.
“The number of lanes on the present bridge linking Mumbai and Navi Mumbai has only three lanes for either direction, while the total lanes on the Sion-Panvel Express Highway are many more,” said S. R. Nandargikar, chief engineer of MSRDC.
According to Mr Nandargikar, two bridges on either side of the existing one with only the ro-ad link will be constructed. Each of these bridges will have three lanes.
The estimated cost of the two bridges is `300 crore and presently, documentation is being undertaken to invite bids from interested parties.
As the monsoon is round the corner, tender formalities will be completed soon, followed by designing and getting clearances from various government bodies and departments.
All these processes are expected to be completed during the monsoon and once summer begins, groundwork will begin on Thane creek. It will take around two years for the bridges to be ready.
The design of the proposed bridges will not be an attempt to make it look fancy by constructing a cable-stayed bridge. The reasons for not opting for a cable-stayed bri-dge is its high cost as well as the additional time needed to construct it.
There are no plans to demolish or dismantle the old two-lane road bridge, which is not in use. “The old bridge is weak and and it is not meant for daily traffic usage. Only film or television shootings take place on it now,” added Mr Nandargikar.