After a delay of over three years, the 2.9-km-long Ghatkopar-Mankhurd flyover was opened for traffic from Sunday. This flyover is expected to bring big relief to those commuting between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. Commuters will be able to save 25 minutes and will ease traffic congestion at Shivaji Nagar Junction, Baganwadi Junction, Deonar Dumping Ground, Fire Brigade and Mohite Patil.
The flyover was inaugurated by Cheif Minister Uddhav Thackeray on August 1, 2021. In his inauguration speech, Uddhav Thackeray said, “Earlier, even I did not feel like passing through this stretch looking at the ongoing work, but now with the construction of this flyover, motorists can bypass the traffic below. I just have a small request to the BMC: the surface of the flyover should be made smoother.”
The inauguration event was also attended by suburban guardian minister Aaditya Thackeray, Mayor Kishori Pednekar, BJP MP, Manoj Kotak and minority affairs minister Nawab Malik, who is also an MLA from Anushakti Nagar constituency.
Aaditya Thackeray had visited the flyover on Saturday afternoon as well. He had even Tweeted about the same. "This afternoon I visited the Ghatkopar- Mankhurd Flyover with AMC Velarasu ji. The 2.9 km long flyover will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ji tomorrow. Over the past one year, we expedited this flyover, reducing the travel time in this corridor” reads his Tweet.
This afternoon I visited the Ghatkopar- Mankhurd Flyover with AMC Velarasu ji. The 2.9 km long flyover will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ji tomorrow.
— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) July 31, 2021
Over the past one year, we expedited this flyover, reducing the travel time in this corridor. pic.twitter.com/n1S1GOYNIw
In total, the flyover has six lanes out of which three are south bound lanes and three are north bound. It is expected that the flyover will ease the traffic between Ghatkopar and Navi Mumbai. In addition, the motorists will save time as they will not have to face traffic congestion at Shivaji Nagar Junction, near Deonar dumping ground in Govandi, which was a major bottleneck.
The construction of the flyover began in 2016 and was expected to be completed in 2019. However, in February 2020, the Standing Committee approved the increase in cost and offered a deadline extension. It is said that the project was originally meant to be made a budget of INR 576 crores, but was increased to INR 713 crores.
Earlier there was a controversy over the name of the flyover between Ghatkopar and Mankhurd and it finally ended on July 29 and the officials took the decision to name this flyover after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. As per reports, the decision was taken unanimously in the meeting with the Architecture Committee.
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