Barfiwala flyover to open in Jan 2012

After starting work in September 2006 on the 350-m long Barfiwala flyover, which glides over the busy SV Road Junction in Andheri, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will finally complete work and throw it open to the public in the first week of January 2012.

One of the most delayed flyover in the city is finally set for completion.

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After starting work in September 2006 on the 350-m long Barfiwala flyover, which glides over the busy SV Road Junction in Andheri, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will finally complete work and throw it open to the public in the first week of January 2012.

"We already opened the southern arm of the flyover this year," said a senior MSRDC official requesting anonymity.

"We are now opening the northern arm which will take traffic from Juhu Galli towards the Western Express Highway (WEH)," he added.

The northern arm will help commuters who want to reach the WEH from Andheri reach quicker as they can bypass the traffic-prone SV Road Junction.

The southern arm, which was opened earlier in June, is for commuters who enter Andheri through the WEH. The two-lane arm helps vehicle owners reach Tipu Sultan Chowk (Juhu Galli) in Andheri (West) from Gokhale Bridge. The distance can be crossed in a few minutes without waiting at the traffic signals on SV Road.

Nearly 70,000 vehicles use this stretch of to enter and exit Andheri from the WEH. The road is a chronic spot as the traffic converges at this point.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), based on studies in 2003, had planned the flyover to tide over the congestion at SV Road Junction and Barfiwala Road.

It had proposed a four-lane flyover, which would be split into two arms having two lanes each.

The entire flyover begins on Phadke Marg and goes on to split into two arms at the Rajiv Gandhi Chowk ending at the common point at Gokhale Bridge.

Work on the project was commissioned in 2006 and the MSRDC was then asked to construct the project.

The cost was pegged at Rs24 crore. However, the project got stuck in land acquisition problems and the cost spiralled to Rs42.5 crore.