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WORK ON the expansion of the Kopri Bridge, which connects Thane to Mumbai, is near completion and the stretch is expected to be thrown open for public use within a fortnight.
The Rs 250 crore project of widening the bridge from an existing 4-lane stretch to an 8-lane stretch is under execution by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
Vehicles headed to Thane city, northern Maharashtra, northern India, Kalyan Dombivali use this stretch. The expansion was needed due to the deteriorating condition of the existing bridge.
MMRDA Commissioner S V R Srinivas told The Indian Express, “It will ease traffic to Thane city and other places and also ease traffic to the Thane Railway Station. It will be opened in some time and some issues need to be sorted out.”
Once the traffic on the new stretch stabilizes, the authorities are contemplating razing the older portion of the bridge and construct a new one in its place.
Deputy Commissioner of Police of Thane’s traffic police branch Balasaheb Patil said, “After the new flyover is inaugurated, the existing one will be rebuilt and the flow of traffic will be smooth. The IIT-Bombay has already given a report that the existing bridge is very weak and needs to be pulled down. I was told that the old bridge will be rebuilt by February 2022.”