Kopri Bridge Work to Kick off by Jan

9th Oct 2017

In a major relief for lakhs of motorists plying daily between Mumbai and Thane, the construction work to release the bottleneck at Kopri road overbridge (RoB) in Thane that connects to the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) will start by January. The project, which will raise the number of lanes to four in each direction, will take around two years to complete.

This will come as a convenience to commuters who travel between Thane and Mumbai as the vehicles coming from EEH, which has 10 lanes, would get stuck at the narrow bridge, resulting in traffic jams.

Dilip Kawathkar, spokesperson, MMRDA, said, “We have already floated bids for appointing contractors for the project and we expect the contract to be awarded by year-end. The work will start thereafter.”

Kawathkar added, “It will take around two years to complete the augmentation work from the current 2+2 lanes to the proposed 4+4 lanes.”

The augmentation of the 60-year-old bridge has been stuck in the pipeline since 2003. Due to the delay, the project cost has increased more than 15 times from around Rs 9 crore in 2003 to Rs 135 crore, as of 2017.

However, there will not be any traffic diversions for the project, considering the construction will take place on the edges of the existing bridge. But the work will be undertaken in sync with the Central Railway, as it is also a rail overbridge.

The tender process has been initiated a year after the MMRDA approved Rs 235 crore for the project in October 2016.

But later, the designs were tweaked and the scope of the work was narrowed down, thus reducing the cost by Rs 100 crore. It is now being tendered at Rs 135 crore.

BRIDGING THE GAP

The expansion will be a relief for commuters who travel between Thane and Mumbai Remodelling of the 60-year-old bridge has been stuck in the pipeline since 2003 Project cost rose 15 times due to the delay

 

Source : dnaindia.com