Thane locals fear to travel on Kopri bridge

Thane: The tragedy that struck the infrastructure-lacking Elphinston Road station on Friday has now triggered the fear of a similar fate amongst lake-city residents who travel via the Kopri bottleneck as the government continues to delay the widening of this 60-year-old bridge.

As this four lane bridge, which connects Thane east to Eastern Express Highway which connects the lake-city to Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, it plys lakhs on commuters to and fro the city on a daily basis.

Citizens here point out that the delay in the widening of this narrow bridge is not only resulting in mega traffic jams that cause delays of 30-minutes to an hour or more, but also putting additional pressure on the ageing bridge which could crumble over the railway line and result in multiple fatalities.

Atul Narayan, one such resident of Pokhran Road 1, said "After crossing the Kopri bottleneck, I reach my office at Kalina in about 25 minutes. But I am stuck in traffic at Kopri for at least around 25 to 40 minutes which increases my overall travel time to over an hour daily."

Meanwhile, 31-year-old Kopri resident Ashutosh Kadam, said, "While we see traffic jams across the city, the daily chaos in this area is extremely dangerous as it could result in the age-old bridge collapsing, and causing harm not only to those commuting over it, but also those travelling in the trains that run below it. This bridge is over 60 years old and it ferries lakhs of vehicles including buses daily. During these traffic jams, the weight of the accumulated vehicles compounds and puts pressure on the bridge. We need this widening to take place at the earliest to prevent any fatalities."

Despite the approval from MMRDA and the Chief Minister in October 2016, the status of the long pending proposal is still a question mark. Keeping this in mind, motorists, residents and commuters in the city started an online petition in June in an attempt to pressurize the government into taking action.

Speaking about the status of the widening at the time, Thane's Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare said, "The Bridge is over 60-years-old and in dire need of repairs and expansion. Over the past 10 years the Public Works Department has been approaching the Railway authorities with new designs for the widening. However, due to constant tussles between both the departments and the consequent delay, the cost of the widening has escalated manifold from the Rs 9crore quoted 12 years ago to as much as Rs 258 crores now, the negotiations of which are underway."