3 min readMay 14, 2012 03:07 AM IST
First published on: May 14, 2012 at 03:07 AM IST
After talking about the idea for more than a year,the city’s development authority has started working towards installation of noise barriers on some recently-built flyovers to slash decibel levels in surrounding residential areas. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has initially selected two flyovers on the Eastern Express Highway — the Suman Nagar and Navghar flyovers — to equip these with sound barriers by next monsoon.
“These are two of the busiest spots on the highway and surrounded by residential pockets,so we decided to pick them first,” an MMRDA engineer said.
MMRDA will appoint a consultant by June to undertake a noise mapping exercise,design acoustic barriers and supervise their installation. The consultant will have six months to study the decibel levels and design noise barriers,and another six for installation.
The authority has earmarked Rs 37.60 crore,for this year,for installation of noise barriers . The MMRDA had first come up with the idea of installing sound barriers on major flyovers constructed under the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project in 2010. The following year,Metropolitan Commissioner Rahul Asthana and former Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar went on a weeklong tour to Italy to study,among other infrastructure projects,sound barrier technology to replicate it in Mumbai.
Other than Suman Nagar and Navghar flyovers,the MMRDA had planned to install noise barriers on flyovers at Sion Hospital junction,Hindmata junction,Thakur Complex,Lalbaug and Barfiwala,among others.
“Though it is still at a conceptual level,we plan to invite tenders for installation of noise barriers on other flyovers soon. The work will be taken up simultaneously with work at Suman Nagar and Navghar flyovers,” said MMRDA spokesman Dilip Kawathkar.
“The idea was conceived in 2010,but we did not implement it so far as we wanted to complete existing projects of installation of noise barriers at Bandra Kurla Complex and IIT Powai,” he added.
The MMRDA,which had undertaken a study on noise barriers under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project,has installed sound barriers,costing Rs 8.68 crore,on a 1,150-m stretch at Bandra Kurla Complex,reducing decibel levels in the area to 55 from 98 decibels.
Subsequently,MMRDA undertook installation of sound barriers at IIT Powai to reduce noise from the adjoining Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road. The installation,costing Rs 3.5 crore,will be completed by month-end.
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