Metro work halts Link Road flyovers
Five flyovers to be constructed on the Link Road in the western suburbs by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been halted due to the ongoing work of the Metro line 2A.
The BMC claims that these flyovers cannot be constructed until the work of the Metro line 2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar) is completed.
The BMC aimed to construct these flyovers from Borivali (west) to Goregaon (west) in order to ease the flow of heavy traffic on the Link Road. But the civic body now claims that the plan of the Metro 2 line changed a couple of times forcing them to further withhold the construction of these flyovers.
These flyovers namely at Don Bosco at Borivali, MG Road at Kandivali, Mith Chowki at Malad, Chincholi Bunder at Malad and Bangur Nagar at Goregaon were supposed to be on a similar pattern to those flyovers on the Western Express highway (WEH).
A senior official of the bridges department of the BMC said, “These flyovers would help commuters to avoid the road and traffic signals below and continue on the Link Road without stopping.”
The civic body claimed that the ground survey for these flyovers was completed but the plan for metro line kept changing.
“Initially we were told that the metro line would be underground, then it was decided that it will be above the ground. So we kept waiting as the metro project was a priority project. Now the construction is started so we cannot start our work as the Link Road is already blocked. We will have to wait for this metro line to be fully completed.”
On the other hand, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is carrying out the construction of the metro line at a fast phase. Dilip Kawathkar, spokesperson of MMRDA, said, “The plans for this metro line changed initially but then we had informed the BMC that it will be above the ground. The metro line is a priority project so the BMC will have to wait.”
Amidst this construction work, the commuters are currently facing a tough time on the Link Road.
Neha Zala, a commuter, said, “The Link Road stretching right from Andheri (west) to Dahisar (west) is an area with heavy traffic congestion due to various shopping malls, call centres, commercial offices and food joints. Commuters generally travel by private vehicles on this road so there is a lot of traffic congestion throughout the day.”
Currently, the Metro construction is going on at the centre of the Link Road.
“This road is narrowed down on both the sides which adds to the traffic woes. This road needs flyovers as we often take the route to the WEH from this road,” another commuter added.