The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to appoint a developer by the year-end to build a 4.5km elevated road from Sewri to Worli, near the end of the sea link, at a cost of about Rs.200 crore.
The road will be attached to the upcoming eastern freeway, between Princes Dock (towards Colaba) and Chembur. The Chembur end will eventually be connected to the Eastern Express highway in Ghatkopar and Mankhurd on the Sion-Panvel highway.
Similarly, the elevated road will have connectivity with the proposed sea link between Sewri and Nhava, also known as the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). Connectivity will be through a rotary or cloverleaf structure, offering entry and exit towards all four ends: Worli, Chembur, Navi Mumbai and Colaba.
While the Pedder Road flyover is being opposed by South Mumbai residents and is yet to be approved by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), the coastal road till Cuffe Parade will require amendments in the Environment Act itself. Permission for both is expected to take two to three years. In the meantime, MMRDA officials said they can build the elevated road.
“Instead of taking the traditional Marine Drive-Pedder Road route, traffic on the western corridor, over probably three years, will be signal-free between Worli and Princes Dock through this connector,” said MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana.
“Although railway permission is not yet in to build a bridge above Elphinstone bridge, work will start by January 2013 to avoid delay. The bridge portion will be built only when permission is given,” said another MMRDA official.
“The project will decongest Pedder Road in the absence of the 4km flyover and nearly 10km coastal road between Worli and Cuffe Parade,” said a senior MMRDA technocrat. While the eastern freeway too will decongest Dr Ambedkar Road, Eastern Express highway and Sion-Panvel road, the sea link will bring Navi Mumbai closer to South Mumbai.
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