By February end SCLR Extension to be open access for public

By the end of February, a stretch of the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road Extension, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opened on February 10, would be accessible to the public. An official from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) stated, “We plan to open the 3.03km section between Kapadia Nagar and Diamond AWWA Hostel in the next few days”.

The PM had officially opened the entire section leading to Vakola Nullah. The Western Express Highway and this water body are both only a few metres from Diamond AWWA Hostel. MMRDA attempted to open this section earlier this month but was unable to due to some reasons. The development authority has been making final adjustments for a fortnight in order enable drivers to use the elevated road and clear the CST Road below.

The Western Express Highway and the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road Extension at Vakola are now connected by the lone piece that needs to be finished. According to Metropolitan Commissioner, SVR Srinivas, ““It is challenging work to have a cable-stayed bridge on a curvature of about 70 degrees that is above the existing Vakola flyover on the highway.”

The building of this cable-stayed bridge, which will carry vehicles in the direction of Dahisar, must be completed by June of this year, according to the officials. Because there was an electoral code of conduct in effect at the time, the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road section between Kapadia Nagar and Amar Mahal was inaugurated for use in April 2014 without any formal political ceremony. The bottleneck at Imam Ahmad Raza Chowk and CST Road approaching the University of Bombay was discovered after it had already opened. Therefore, there was a need to erect the elevated road's extension.