Naigaon road overbridge to cut travel time by 60 mins

After a delay of nine years the Naigaon eastwest road overbridge is finally complete and will be open to the public in the next two months April The project was stalled owing to green permissions For locals this bridge will reduce a distance of around 10 km as one can avoid the current detour Motorists travelling towards Mumbai will save a good hourThough the basic project work undertaken in coordination with the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority MMRDA started in December 2013 work was delayed due to environmental and other clearances The key elements of the project work began only in 2015Railway officials said that for construction on salt pan land MMRDA gave verbal clearances in November 2015 on the east side the high court permissions for mangroves came in March 2015 In addition to this tree cutting permissions for the bridge required elaborate permissions from the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation VVMC forest department and tehsildar office The VVMC permissions were also required for the shifting of electrical poles Increase in vehicular trafficldquoAt present there is no connectivity from Naigaon East to Naigaon West People staying at Naigaon West and part of Vasai West at present have to travel to Vasai Road overbridge to cross to the east and also to go to Mumbai and Ahmedabad Once the Naigaon bridge is completed and the eastwest connectivity is established around 10 km distance will be reduced to travel to Mumbai and overall about one hour of travel time will be saved during heavy traffic timerdquo Sadanand Kambli a resident saidAnother resident Mayford DrsquoSouza said ldquoDue to the upcoming residential projects in and around Naigaon and Vasai West vehicular traffic has increased Hence the widening and improvement of existing roads were very necessaryrdquoBetter connectivityldquoThe construction of this road overbridge on NaigaonJuichandraBopane Road SH41 across Western Railway track near Naigaon railway station was a part of the widening and improvement plan The NaigaonJuchandraBopane road project is a State Highway41 which starts at National Highway8 and ends at Naigaon railway station east The elevated viaduct structure is approximately 13km long between Naigaon West and Naigaon Eastrdquo Sumit Thakur Western Railway chief public relations officer saidldquoThe existing NaigaonJuchandraBopane Road originates from State Highway41 NH8 and ends at Naigaon station east There was no connectivity from Naigaon East to Naigaon West and the adjoining area of Vasai West This project will provide connectivity for the western part of Naigaon and Vasai to not only the east but also give direct access to Mumbai and Ahmedabad Highway MMRDA has envisaged a busbased public transport system to maintain the philosophy of a sustainable urban sprawlrdquo he addedProject backgroundThe proposed road overbridge and NaigaonJuchandraBopane road will be the linking roads for the traffic coming from Vasai West and Naigaon West towards Mumbai Thane and Ahmedabad Given the rapid developments that are taking place in this extended suburb of Mumbai city situated in Palghar district the vehicular traffic has increased substantially Hence the need was felt to construct this road overbridge connecting east to west to cater to future increases in trafficRs 108 crOverall cost of the project to build Naigaon eastwest road overbridgeWork timeline of the road overbridge Agreement date December 20 2013 Actual Commencement December 20 2013 Overall cost of project R10805 crore Total length 1296 metres approximately 13 km Total length of approaches 388 metres