The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to connect the Eastern Freeway to Marine Drive and P D’Mello Road by constructing an elevated link road to connect both and also decongest the traffic at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel (SVP) Road. The new elevated link road will pass over it.
The idea behind the project is to decongest traffic around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and also allow smooth flow of traffic, as commuters will no more have to face traffic jams in areas like Pydhonie, CST and Dongri to travel towards Chowpatty, after which Marine Drive is minutes away.
“There were various studies carried out by the MMRDA itself prior to this and we are in the process of giving it a final shape,” said Sanjay Khandare, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.
“Coordination with various agencies like that of the BMC and the railways will be required,” Mr Khandare added.
“The study did reveal that the extension by construction of elevated link road is feasible. After drafting a concrete plan on this we will prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the same,” her said.
Apart from this, the MMRDA has initiated steps towards extending the Eastern Freeway up to the General Post Office (GPO) junction to decongest traffic at the P D’Mello Road.
The Eastern Freeway is currently from Orange Gate on P D’Mello Road in the south and ends at the Indian Oil Junction on the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link road in the north.
In this respect, an empowered committee on infrastructure was conducted at Mantralaya.
The Central Railway authorities have asked the state government to decide whether shifting of the Harbour Line corridor for the extension will be feasible.
“The work on the extension is possible once we get Right Of Way (ROW) for carrying out the work. Once that is in our hand we will start the work on the extension,” said U.P.S. Madan, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.
