In a significant development, it has come to light that the third Thane creek Bridge, also known as the Vashi Bridge, is nearing completion. With this, the connectivity between Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and beyond will further improve. The life of this bridge is 100 years.
Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) official stated that about 73% of the project has been completed.
The three tier bridge between Mankhurd and Vashi is planned to be completed by June. Similarly, the three-tier bridge from Vashi to Mankhurd is proposed to be constructed by November.
The third Thane Bay bridge on the Sion-Panvel highway is expected to bring relief to motorists who face daily traffic jams on the existing bridge. The work is being done under Engineering, Procurement, Construction mode with contractor L&T Limited at the cost of INR 559 crore. The project started in 2020.
The main span of the bridge is 1.84 km long with 1.25 km of roadway and toll plaza. The existing six-span bridge will have two three-lane bridges on either side. The new bridge will add six more lanes. Once it is completed, the total width of the bridge will be six lanes in each direction up and down.
As per media reports, there is a major bottleneck on the Mumbai side and the opening of the Mumbai-Navi Mumbai branch will immediately ease congestion. On the Navi Mumbai side, there are disruptions during morning and evening peak hours, during festivals and in case of technical problems or accidents.
The contract for the third Thane Bay Bridge, originally planned in 2012, was awarded to L&T in September 2018. The construction period was 36 months and the defect liability period was 48 months. However, the commencement was delayed due to the time taken for various environmental clearances which came in January 2020 by order of the Bombay High Court (HC). The project, which finally started on October 29, 2020, was further delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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