Proposed in 1991, Mumbai’s Vidyavihar flyover set to open by Aug 31: What it means for your commute

Being built at a cost of Rs 178 crore, the 650-metre-long flyover will connect Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg in the east with Ramkrishna Chemburkar Marg in the west by passing above the railway tracks. The proposal for the flyover was first included in the BMC’s Development Plan (DP) regulations in 1991. Tenders for the project were floated in 2016 and construction work began thereafter. However, the project ran into several hurdles, resulting in repeated delays over the years.

Since Vidyavihar does not have direct east-west road connectivity currently, once operational, the new flyover is expected to reduce travel time to less than 10 minutes.

The project will comprise a 100 meter steel girder, on which the vehicular arms will be erected. Civic officials said that the alignment of this arm required cutting down of the trees and according to the civic body’s proposal a total of 213 were falling in the way of the project of which, 77 of them were entirely felled, while 85 of them were transplanted, while 51 trees at the spot hss retained in their position.

Civic officials said the project will also provide pedestrian access from the flyover to the railway station footpaths. Another new pedestrian link will connect the railway premises with adjoining roads.

Mankhurd Maharashtra Nagar flyover to be ready by 2027

The BMC on Saturday also announced that the Mankhurd-Maharashtra Nagar flyover is set to be operational by August 2027.

The T Junction is one of the major traffic choke-points in the eastern suburbs located at the Sion-Panvel highway. The congested junction records a heavy influx of vehicles, travelling towards and from Navi Mumbai, Pune in and out of Mumbai. Considering the heavy traffic load recorded at this junction, motorists spend more than 15 minutes due to traffic jams at this signal.

The proposed flyover will have two arms for vehicular movement and is aimed to decongest the traffic junctions by providing vehicles with direct access to the existing GMLR flyover.

The two flyover arms will originate from this T junction and will be connected with the existing Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road (GMLR). The proposed flyover arms will be 1.47 km and 1.93 km in length. Each arm will have two vehicular carriageways and average width ranging between 6.5 meters and 8.5 meters.

The cost of this bridge has been pegged at Rs 1,958 crore.

“The flyover is going to be a gamechanger once completed. Vehicles travelling towards Navi Mumbai and Pune from Ghatkopar side will make a cut in travel time by significant margin. Considering the heavy traffic density and limited road space, crossing the junction takes longer than usual leading to massive inconvenience to people,” Bangar said.