Mumbai: Elevated road widest on single pier

Sahar Elevated Road, which will be opened shortly to connect the Western Express Highway with the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), is the widest deck in India on a single pier.

“Talking about the construction and engineering aspect, this is the widest deck on a single pier in India and is also rare in the world. There are six lanes apart from space for plantations and maintenance areas,” said Sharad Sabnis, chief engineer, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Constructed jointly between January 2008 and January 2014 by the MMRDA and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), the road promises to be a hurdle-free ride from the Western Express Highway as one would be able to enter the new terminal in just four minutes.

“As the road is ready, with only minor touch-up work remaining, it will be opened for traffic the moment Terminal-2 (CSIA’s latest terminal) becomes operational,” announced UPS Madan, commissioner, MMRDA.

The bridge deck of 27.5 meters width consist of central spine segment 9 metres wide and cantilever segments of 9 meters each of either side with transverse pre-stressing technology, which is rare in India.

The latest road network in Mumbai’s map is sort of a freeway as there aren’t any traffic signals or intersections. Moreover, it has been designed for motorists to accelerate at the speed of up to 100kmph.

In order to construct it, 750 families from Bamanwada, Ambedkar Nagar and Sambhaji Nagar were relocated to two locations – Oshiwara and Kurla.

The cost was borne by three agencies, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (Rs 155 crore), MMRDA (Rs77 crore) and MIAL (Rs132 crore).