Bridging Oshiwara with JVLR to get done by 2014

Road connectivity between the western and eastern suburbs has been a major concern plaguing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and the civic body came up with a project in 2009 to address the issue. The original plan was to construct a bridge from Oshiwara to Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) and complete the project by 2011. While construction work is going on near Jogeshwari station, other problems have cropped up along the way and could mean an additional year and a half before its completion.

Work being carried out on the bridge to connect Jogeshwari (East) to the west near Jogeshwari railway station

Besides the encroachment that needs to be cleared on the proposed route, a Development Planning (DP) road near the Western Express Highway (WEH) that cannot be touched till 2014 has the civic body playing a waiting game. Construction work to bridge the WEH at this point will begin only once the DP road is accessible. Once the project is completed, getting to JVLR flyover from Oshiwara during peak time will only take half-an-hour.

Deputy Chief Engineer, Bridges, R Tare, said, "The original plan was to directly bridge Oshiwara to JVLR. This will happen, but it will take time as the work on DP road is yet to be passed."u00a0A senior official from the Bridges Department said on condition of anonymity, "The current cost of the project is Rs 137 crore, but this could increase after 2014. Work on the JVLR stretch will only begin after 2014, so we will only begin construction of the pillars after clearing encroachments and other issues."