Mumbai: Work on two flyovers to BKC put off, traffic snarls to continue

Wait for motorists travelling towards south Mumbai and eastern suburbs and further on has got longer as construction work on two crucial flyovers connecting the busy Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) with Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Bandra-worli sea-link (BWSL) has been delayed. This will also result in continuing of traffic snarls at Kalanagar junction.

The BKC- EEH connector an 1.6-km-long elevated flyover that was to be made open for traffic by year end will now be only made operational in mid-2019 due to civil construction work getting delayed along with the BKC BWSL flyover that is scheduled to be ready by July 2019 is also nowhere to be seen considering construction work is not started in full pace.

Daily around 2 lakh people commute to BKC resulting in 20,000 vehicles entering and exiting BKC, and these two flyovers are crucial for decongesting traffic at Kalanagar junction that also witnesses thousands of vehicles passing via it.

The Kalanagar junction connects one at least towards four directions that includes BKC, towards Mahim and Sion, towards BWSL and lastly towards western suburbs via Western Express Highway. To decongest the bottleneck at this spot several flyovers are planned that will directly take one inside BKC skipping kalanagar junction.

A MMRDA official said, "The BKC-EEH connector will be beneficial for those travelling towards Thane and Navi Mumbai but it has got delayed by almost four months due to several permissions taking longer time. Instead of the December 2018 deadline now we expect it to be open for public by March or April 2019."

The particular flyover had required permissions from Central Railway considering it goes over railway tracks and also has to build the bridge over Mithi River due to which the construction got delayed, MMRDA officials said.

The MMRDA official added, "For the around 2-km-long BKC-BWSL flyover the construction work has not started in full force despite awarding contract in 2017. This due to several design changes having to be accomodated considering DN Nagar-BKC-Mandale Metro-2B corridor will go above the flyover."

The BKC-BWSL flyover starts somewhere near family court and takes one up to Bandra reclamation just before the start of BWSL and one arm going towards Bandra reclamation bus depot.

Meanwhile, MMRDA had earlier requested companies in BKC to have staggered office timings due to the increasing traffic in BKC during peak hours. RA Rajeev, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA opines, "We all should practice and advocate the concept of staggering office hours considering I think it will definitely help a city like Mumbai in tackling its commuting issues."

MMRDA EXPLAINS THE HOLDUP

• Many permissions for BKC-EEH connector are stuck, so instead of Dec 2018, it is now expected to be operationalised by March or April 2019.
   
• Work on BKC-BWSL link has not started despite contract being awarded in 2017, due to several design changes over DN Nagar-Mandale Metro-2B corridor.