Zip on Eastern Freeway from July next year

MUMBAI: Mumbai residents will get some relief from traffic snarls by next July when several major arterial road projects, including the Eastern Freeway, will be ready.

The major Eastern Freeway, linking Colaba and Ghatkopar, will cut the 90-minute journey to 35 to 40 minutes.

Those who are travelling to the international airport can hope to not get stuck in traffic jams as there will be a two-km long elevated road leading to the airport.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner, Ratnakar Gaikwad said several large infrastructure projects will be ready by July next year, despite the many hurdles that have delayed the projects.

One of the main reasons for the delays was the rehabilitation of the project affected persons at P D'Mello Road.

Joint project director Dilip Kawathkar said, "The Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road will be ready by December end ".

He main constraints in getting the Eastern Freeway project going was the structures on P D'Mello road whose owners had to be rehabilitated,'' said Gaikwad who said they had to rehabilitate over 100 structures in the area.

"Residents can travel from Colaba to Wadala on the Eastern Freeway, they can then go onto the Anik Panjrapole Link Road and head on towards Chembur and then Ghatkopar,'' said Joint project director,Dilip Kawathkar who pointed out that the building of the two flyovers on Ambedkar Road one at Lalbagh and the other at Kings Circle will allow motorists to drive from V T to Suman Nagar in Chembur a 20 km route in 30 minutes.

Kawathkar said that the two main East West link roads should be ready by July."The Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road will be ready by December end and the Santacruz Chembur Link Road will be ready by June,'' he said on a positive note.

Read more: Zip on Eastern Freeway from July next year - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Zip-on-Eastern-Freeway-from-July-next-year/articleshow/6837955.cms#ixzz13oE6aK4s

Churchgate to remain shut at night

Churchgate station will remain partially shut for 44 days during nights and early mornings as the railways have taken up work on building a roof on the extended station platform. For that period, Marine Lines will be the night rail terminus on Western Railway (WR).

The work will continue from October 28 to December 23. The renovated station, seeing about 18 lakh passengers every day, will be ready in time for Christmas.

“Peak hour and day traffic will not be affected much. During the period, some trains will be short-terminated at Marine Lines station and some will be cancelled. We will also ensure that the last train for Virar leaving Churchgate at 12:50am and that for Borivli leaving at 1am will depart as per schedule to avoid any inconvenience,” Sharat Chandrayan, WR chief spokesperson said.

“The station will be built with engineering novelty. The entire roof will be made elsewhere and placed over the station. Two cranes will be used, and the work will continue during the nights,” he added.

In 1867, the British did a similar thing with Bandra station. They assembled the entire roof in London, put it in a steamer, and placed it over the Bandra station building.

Though a fully-roofed Churchgate station was built in the 1950s, the station platform was extended 20 years ago to accommodate 12-car trains. The platform, however, was not provided with a roof then. “We will now complete that work in the next two months,” he said.

Also during this period, entry into Churchgate station from the Marine Lines end of platform one will be barred for the public.