New 10-lane Vashi bridge planned

The long road from Mumbai to Pune, Goa and other southern destinations may just get smoother. The Maharashtra state government is all set to greenlight the construction of a ten-lane road bridge across the Thane creek at Vashi. The bridge, 2,200 metres long and 25 metres wide, has been proposed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) at a cost of Rs 354 crore.It is being built in anticipation of huge bottlenecks at the bridge due to work on the proposed 14-lane expansion of the Sion-Panvel highway in the near future. A consultant is being appointed to draw up the final blueprint, MSRDC MD Satish Gavai said. The expansion of the Sion-Panvel highway from Sion to Kalamboli (from where the Mumbai-Pune expressway starts) will cost an additional Rs 825 crore. After construction of the bridge, the traffic moving on the proposed 14-lane highway will get a 16-lane bridge. Presently, over 90,000 vehicles use the road everyday. The old bridge was abandoned a couple of years ago as it had weakened. It will be the third road bridge on the creek & cost Rs 354 crore The first was built in 1971 and abandoned two years ago The second existing six-lane bridge was thrown open in ’95 The harbour line railway bridge was commissioned in 1992