Traffic block on midnight of December 25th, 26th for launching of girders for Airoli Katai Naka elevated Road construction

For the construction of this Airoli Katai Naka elevated road crossing of State highway 4 is needed for which a total of eight steel girders of 63 metres long need to be raised. Since the entire road is elevated near Bharat Bijlee this elevated road height from ground is about 15 metres. Two girders have already been launched on December 19th, said MMRDA official.

MMRDA Commissioner SVR Srinivas said, “Traffic diversion regarding the girder launches has been initiated from December 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th December (time- 00.01 to 6.00 am). Since the work is to be done at midnight only, there are no chances of traffic congestion on these days.”

As per the MMRDA total eight girders of 650 metric tonnes will be launched. At time of launching, two girders will be lifted at one time and weight of these two girders will be in range of 160-190 metric tonnes for which heavy A-750 tonne capacity holding cranes will be used and to attach these two girders two additional cranes will also be used.

The Airoli Katai Naka elevated road is part of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). The length of the project is 12.3km and has been divided into three phases. Srinivas stressed, “Launching of girders is a crucial part of this project and once it is successfully attained a major milestone will be achieved. Besides the Parsik tunneling work, part of this project is also progressing at good speed and 66% of work has been completed in it.”

The Airoli-Katai Naka Road Project will facilitate smooth traffic movement between Kalyan- Dombivli and Navi Mumbai. Currently, people travelling towards Navi Mumbai from Kalyan have to travel via Mahape or Thane, which usually sees dense traffic.The new Airoli-Katai Naka Project starting from Mulund-Airoli Bridge and extending up to Katai Naka on the Kalyan-Shil Road through the Thane-Belapur Road and the National Highway No. 4- will provide an alternative route and ease traffic congestion. The 12.3-km project is divided into three

The first part entails construction of a 3.43-km road between the Thane-Belapur Road and the National Highway No. 4. In this phase there is a 1.69 km long Twin Tunnel of 3+3 lanes and the rest will be elevated and a normal road. The work of elevated road is over 88% completed as well as 66% of tunnel work has been completed. In the second part, a 2.57-km, fully elevated road will connect Mulund-Airoli Bridge to the Thane- Belapur Road. The work in this section has been completed up to about 60 per cent. The Third part of the project will involve a 6.30-km, fully-elevated road, connecting the National Highway No. 4 to Katai Naka at Kalyan-Shil Road.

Once the Airoli Katai Naka Road project is ready heavy traffic on Shilphata road will be reduced and travel time between Katai Naka and Airoli will be reduced approximately by half an hour benefiting the people traveling to Kalyan, Ambernath and Badlapur from Mumbai.