5 days ago
Mumbai residents fear traffic chaos if flyover is demolished for coastal road project
Mumbai: Goregaon and Malad residents fear being landlocked to an extent if the Veer Savarkar flyover is demolished to make way for the Mumbai Coastal Road (North)–GMLR connector from Malad Mindspace up to Dindoshi.
At Dindoshi, the piling work for the connector has already started. While the BMC has said it has no choice but to raze the bridge, local MLA Aslam Shaikh has warned that it could take commuters over an hour just to cross the junction.
"The next 3–4 years will be a traffic nightmare in these areas," he said, pointing out that alongside the flyover's proposed demolition, work on the coastal road has already begun, and tunnelling for the Goregaon–Mulund Link Road (GMLR) is also set to start.
TOI first reported the proposed demolition in its Aug 5 edition. Sandeep Patel, a former Goregaon corporator, pointed out that the Mrunal Tai Gore flyover—the alternate entry into the locality—gets severely congested during exhibitions at NESCO, with commuters taking up to an hour to cross it.
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"If the Savarkar flyover is demolished, that would then be the only exit for southbound traffic," said Patel. Dhaval Shah of the Andheri Lokhandwala Citizens Association said that the Savarkar extension is a jugular vein for commuters of that region to cross over either side of the railway line.
It will lead to a manifold increase in travel time and cause a lot of inconvenience.
"Breaking should be done in the last phase when it is necessary, and planning should be done to get it restored on a war footing, unlike other projects which have very long gestation times for bridge projects," he said.
Former BMC opposition leader Ravi Raja pointed out that as the Savarkar bridge was built for Rs 27 crore, not only will this result in a loss of public money, but it will also cause hardships to locals in their commute. "When this bridge was constructed, it was built because it was needed—so what about the people's needs now? In such a scenario, why isn't there a collective consideration of which projects will take place in Mumbai and what difficulties they might create for the public? What has happened in the case of the Veer Savarkar Bridge is entirely wrong, and it represents a loss of the tax money paid by Mumbaikars," said Raja.
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