Thane Creek Bridge Upgrades to 12 Lanes Nears Final Stage; To Ease Traffic Woes In MMR

The Mumbai-bound portion of the Thane Creek Bridge, better known as the Vashi bridge, is nearly complete and should open by the end of February, two months after the Navi Mumbai-bound segment was made accessible to traffic on October 13, said authorities.

This project is expected to substantially reduce traffic on the vital Vashi Bridge corridor inside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which sees some 64,300 cars traverse the bridge each day.

At the moment, two bridges are the main means of transportation for cars over this distance. A major component of an ambitious plan to decongest this regularly trafficked road is the new bridge, which is the fourth to span the creek and was built by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Due to structural issues, the first bridge, which was finished in 1973 and only has two lanes, has remained off-limits to ordinary traffic for almost twenty years. These days, it is sometimes used as a picturesque setting for Bollywood movie productions. With three lanes in each direction, the second bridge has been in use since 1997. Its capacity has been insufficient due to the constantly expanding population and the rising vehicle density between Greater Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, resulting in severe bottlenecks that have been made worse by the Sion-Panvel Highway's ten-lane extension.

In 2020, the MSRDC awarded Larsen & Toubro the INR 559 crore project to begin construction on twin creek bridges in order to address these issues. The two bridges flank the older 1997 structure and total 3.14 km in length.

Final construction of the Mumbai-bound bridge's superstructure is now complete, and electrical, lighting, expansion joints, and crash barriers are being installed.

MSRDC is aiming at completing all the works by the end of February next year, after which the bridge will be opened for traffic

The creek crossing's overall capacity will increase to 12 lanes - six in each direction - once the Mumbai-bound bridge is operational, guaranteeing more convenient travel between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.