MUMBAI, February 7: The 3-km long road from Wadala truck terminal to Anik, which will substantially reduce the heavy vehicular traffic on the Dr B A Road, was this morning inaugurated and put into operation at the hands of State Chief Secretary P Subramaniam.With the road being open to thousands of trucks, cargo container carriers and tankers entering and leaving the city round the clock, serious traffic jams at Sion circle and other parts of the eastern express highway will come down within next three days.
The road is jointly constructed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at a cost of Rs 15 crore. The road is 36 mtrs wide and will have four lanes each on both of its parts.
Since ages, trade and commerce activities in Mumbai have concentrated in South Mumbai due to the position of the port. As these activities increased immensely over the years, goods transport to and from the port increased accordingly. Domestic transport alsoincreased substantially. However, the roads used by both remained the same and were put under severe stress.
This also gave rise to alarming increase in the level of air pollution due to the smoke generated by these vehicles and noise of their engines. The Wadala-Anik road was planned to reduce all these problems and diverse the heavy vehicular traffic through a "dedicated lane". The new road will serve this purpose as it goes along the eastern coastline of the island city which is so far not congested as other parts of Mumbai.
Speaking after inaugurating the road, Subramaniam said: "This road is of prime importance when it comes to traffic problems in the city and I am personally happy to see it functioning. In fact, such road was recommended 38 years back by the Wilber Smith company as the eastern island freeway. However, I will not say this road will turn the city into a paradise but it will certainly help reduce the heavy traffic."
Others present on the dais were MMRDA Commissioner K C Shrivastava,BMC Commissioner Girish Gokhale, Principal Secretary of the Urban Development department, K Nalinakshan, MMRDA Chief Engineer A V Deshingkar and BMC Chief Engineer K V Shah.
MUTP project cleared
MMRDA Commissioner K C Shrivastava announced that the Railway ministry has cleared the ambitious Mumbai Urban Transport Programme II (MUTP-II).He said he received a fax message to this effect from the Railways last evening. The MUTP-II, expected to solve Mumbai's transport problems, now awaits a nod from the Centre.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
