Link road work near Sion: Expect traffic snarls on Eastern E-Way in Mumbai

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is going to barricade four lanes of the highway near Somaiya football ground to carry out construction work of the Chunabhatti-BKC link road from Monday

Brace for traffic congestion on the Eastern Express Highway near Sion, from next week as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is going to barricade four lanes of the highway near Somaiya football ground to carry out construction work of the Chunabhatti-BKC link road from Monday.

Construction of the link road from the Bandra Kurla Complex began earlier this year. (HT File Photo)

Construction of the link road from the Bandra Kurla Complex began earlier this year.

According to officials, the barricading will be done for about a 300-400m stretch of the highway to construct ramps for the 1.6km elevated link road.

Since the stretch already faces one of the worst traffic congestions in the city in the morning rush hours because of the bottleneck under Sion flyover, the new construction activities can further add to the inconvenience that commuters face daily.

Prakash Mamdapure, engineer-in-chief at MMRDA, said, “Two lanes each from both sides of the highway will be blocked for the traffic. There will be two ramps for the link road in both directions, built in the middle of the highway.”

Mamdapure said that construction work was going to start from Monday, and there could be a little delay if it rains this week.

From the highway, the link road will take a right turn and pass over Somaiya ground, the central and harbour rail lines, then cross the Mithi river before descending at G-Block of the Bandra- Kurla Complex (BKC).

As traffic snarls are expected, MMRDA officials have decided to divert the traffic to the service roads.

“We have discussed the diversion plan with the traffic police and decided to use service roads on both sides for the highway traffic. That makes four additional lanes available, which can help us in ensuring smooth traffic flow,” Mamdapure said.

Once the link road is constructed, commuters from the eastern suburbs, Thane and Navi Mumbai will be able to skip the highly-congested Sion- Dharavi link road to reach BKC. The travel time will be reduced to just five minutes from the current 20 to 45 minutes during peak hours.