Lalbaug flyover to open in June

From the first week of June, those of you driving to your office in the island city will be able to avoid the narrow, congested streets of old, central Mumbai by taking the 2.4-km-long Lalbaug flyover.

From the first week of June, those of you driving to your office in the island city will be able to avoid the narrow, congested streets of old, central Mumbai by taking the 2.4-km-long Lalbaug flyover.

HT Image

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, (MMRDA) which has built the city’s second-longest flyover, (the longest one is the 2.5-km JJ flyover) is planning to open it to motorists in less than a month.

“We will open the Lalbaug flyover in the first week of June. Only the minor work of the approaching ramps to the flyover is left,” said MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana.

The flyover, which costs more than Rs 140 crore, starts near the ITC in Parel and extends up to the Byculla zoo, snaking over some of the most congested areas in the island city.

The flyover has been built to improve traffic on Ambedkar Road, which connects the eastern suburbs to south Mumbai. It is the fourth and final flyover on Dr Ambedkar Road and will help commuters cover the distance between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Sion in 20 minutes.

The 38-year-old, 500-metre, two-lane flyover, which used to carry traffic towards south Mumbai, was demolished in May 2009, in 12 days by around 200 workers.

It generated 6,000 cubic metres of rubble, enough to fill two-and-a-half Olympic-sized swimming pools.

It took 1,200 truck trips to dump all that rubble to Mankhurd.South Mumbai to Sion in a flat 20 minutes.