By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government Thursday announced the launch of the Rs.5.3 billion ($126 million) eastern freeway project (EFP) to provide a direct link to the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and south Mumbai.
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) joint director D. Kawathkar announced here that the EFP work got underway with the completion of four pillars at the Nawab Tank Overbridge in south Mumbai today.
Once completed, the 22-km-long EFP will drastically reduce travel time between Colaba in south Mumbai and the eastern suburbs like Ghatkopar and Mulund, he added.
The EPF, part of the Mumbai urban infrastructure project, will also include a sub-road adjacent to the existing Mumbai Port Trust road to enable quick movement of heavy vehicles that converges to the wholesale markets and trading areas in the southern parts of the city.
The four-lanes EFP, which starts near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum, will go on to the Mumbai Port Trust road before joining the EEH via the Anik-Panjrapole link road, near Wadala, a distance of 12 km. Of these, 9 km will be elevated.
The second phase will link the Anik-Panjrapole link road with Ghatkopar suburb, affording easy access with time saving to the people living in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.
The EFP is expected to achieve time saving similar to what the recently completed Worli-Bandra Sea Link project will do on the western side. The sealink is expected to be commissioned for traffic by January 2009.