80% work on third Kalwa Creek bridge completed: Thane civic body

The girder over the creek will be launched in one month while the entire work will be completed by June this year.

The work on the third Kalwa Creek bridge, which was hit due to the pandemic last year, has finally gained momentum. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) conducted a trial of girder launch on the creek on Sunday and claimed that 80% of the work is completed. The girder over the creek will be launched in one month while the entire work will be completed by June this year.

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The bridge, which is an important link connecting Thane and Navi Mumbai, will ease the traffic congestion between the two cities along with congestion in Kalwa and Thane city areas. A number of residents from Thane take the bridge to reach various IT sector companies in Navi Mumbai. The bridge was supposed to open last monsoon, however the work was stalled due to the lockdown as labour was not available.

Pravin Papalkar, deputy city engineer, said, “The work of the pillars in the 100-metre stretch over the creek is completed. On Sunday, we did a trail launch of the basket girder on this bridge. The girder is 1,000 metric tonne in weight and the structure is ready. We will launch it in a month. Once the girder is launched, we will only have to connect the missing links at two ends of the girder and at the few other stretches of the entire bridge.”

“The budget allocation for the bridge this year is ₹20 crore. We have to complete the bridge and open it for the commuters this year on any account. Our plan is to complete the work by June,” he said.

Atul Jadhav, 55, a commuter, said, “The work is delayed for years now. The first bridge is closed as it is unsafe, while the second bridge is very narrow. The new bridge will make the commute easy. At present, we spend hours in traffic at the Kalwa junction due to the congestion.”