India’s first Double Decker Flyover opens

After a decade-long delay, the 6.45-km six-lane Santacruz-Chembur Link Road is finally open. The travel time between Chembur and Santacruz is expected to drop from the current 90 minutes to 20 minutes
 India’s first double-decker flyover, part of the 3.5 km long Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), has finally been thrown open for Mumbaikars on 18th April. The ` 428 crore project, undertaken under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) of MMRDA, is expected to provide much-needed east-west connectivity in Mumbai.
Starting from Vakola Junction on Western Express Highway (WEH) and extending up to Amar Mahal Junction near the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), the 6.45-km six-lane road
What lies in store at the end of a long wait?Planned in 2002 and under construction since 2006, the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road missed around a dozen completion deadlines and witnessed a four-fold jump in cost since it was first projected. The Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) is aimed to ease traffic snarls at Amar Mahal Junction, Vakola, Sion and Kula areas and will also significantly de-congest the Eastern and
Western Express Highways. The opening of SCLR project will also reduce traffic chaos at Sion and Kalanagar junctions. This will enable commuters travel from Santacruz to Chembur in a mere 15-20 minutes. Today, Mumbaikars require anywhere between 60 to 90 minutes to cross this stretch during peak hours. The commuters can take Vakola Junction road to reach the upper level of the double decker flyover to reach Eastern Express Highway directly with the help of Amar Mahal Junction flyover. The commuters will take the lower level of the flyover and turn right to reach Kurla Railway Station and turn left to reach Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. The SCLR – providing three
lanes each for up and down traffic – is expected to carry more than 80,000 vehicles per day. The upper and the lower levels of the flyover provide two lanes each for up and down traffic. Footpaths on the lower level flyover are also provided for commuters who intend to cross over from Kurla Station to LT Terminus and vice versa. RehabilitationThe Santacruz-Chembur Link Road project faced innumerable court cases, various issues related to resettlement and rehabilitation, encroachment etc. MMRDA claims to have resettled and rehabilitated more than 3,500 project affected families from Gazi Nagar, Buddha Colony, Sable Nagar, Rahul Nagar and Indira Colony areas. This included residential, commercial as also religious structures. Besides this, the authority also shifted 13 MHADA buildings from Tilak Nagar and two MHADA buildings from Netaji Nagar, Kurla. While the occupants of 13 MHADA buildings from Tilak Nagar were rehabilitated in-situ, the occupants of two MHADA buildings from Netaji Nagar were rehabilitated in Bandra-Kurla Complex. “The demolition, shifting and relocation of 15 MHADA buildings has been acknowledged as model-case-study in the developing world,” MMRDA states.
Santacruz-Chembur Link Road: some facts

6.5km road a SCLR is to connect Santacruz and Chembur
It is expected to have a double deck fly-over near Kurla Terminus (LTT)
However, approval from the railways for a bridge on the Central Railway line near Kurla terminus is awaited
The construction work commenced in 2003 and was expected to be realy in 2005. Its progress was stuck becouse of the rehabilitation of project-affected people (PAP) and red-tapism
December 2013 the implementing authorities are now struggling to get the project ready45 minutes of travel time will be saved
The SCLR will out pollution as the distance will be less
It will also ease traffic congestion on the Sion-Dharavi road, Eastern express highway and Western express highway.

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