Title - Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road to be ready by Dec

MUMBAI: Under construction for a decade, the much-delayed Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) will finally be open for motorists by December. With the agencies involved in the execution of the work launching girders to connect the bridge above the railway tracks in Kurla in October-November, the project is expected to be completed by December."We plan to undertake launching of the girder scheme from October 20; it will take 21 days. If the railways approves our request for a block, work on the flyover can be completed by December," said Dilip Kawathakar, spokesperson for MMRDA, the nodal agency for project.As railway services cannot be stalled for this work, the agencies have sought a one-and-a-half hour block daily post-midnight when trains do not operate. The block has been sought for one-and-half hour every day.During this period, timings and schedule of a few mail/express trains arriving in Mumbai on the Central Railway will be revised.The 6.54-km-long SCLR comprises of a double-decker flyover with the top deck catering to traffic between Amar Mahal junction on Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway atVakola junction via Kalina. The lower deck will provide connectivity between Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kurla Diary in Nehru Nagar from Kalina.

The double-decker link road project, which is being implemented by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), is part of the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project. Besides providing the crucial east-west connectivity, the SCLR thus save commute time between the eastern and western suburbs. It

will also help decongest the existing stretch near Sion-Circle and Kalanagar as vehicles have to take a detour via Sion-Dharavi Link Road to go from Eastern Express Highway to Western Express Highway and vice-versa.

A decade after the work began in 2003, the cost of the project has increased from an estimated Rs 115 crore to Rs 435 crore. The project has missed several deadlines due to poor execution, relief and rehabilitation-related issues, land acquisition and approval of drawings and designs for bridge from railways.

To compliment the SCLR, the MMRDA has also drawn up plans to build two more flyovers as the traffic flow is expected to increase on the stretch between Kalina and CST road near Kurla.

One flyover will come up between Bandra-Kurla and CST Road, while another be from Kalina University junction to CST bridge. The existing 40-m-long and 30-m-wide CST bridge will be remodelled and made 100m long and 45m wide.