Mumbai: Barricades erected for Metro 4 construction

The construction of the Metro 4 corridor gathered steam on Monday with the contractor erecting barricades for soil testing at several locations along the alignment. “Barricades for its construction have been erected in Thane from Monday midnight,” said Pravin Darade, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA. The barricades have been erected at four locations in Thane after receiving permissions from the police.

“We will be barricading barely one fifth of the entire length of the corridor currently. Only around six-km of the 32 km will be barricaded for now,” said a senior MMRDA official.

However, sources in the MMRDA said managing traffic during construction of Metro 4 will be far more tougher than Metro 2A and 7. “Managing traffic here will be more critical than the previous corridors. For the other corridors there were alternative routes, but here there’s only Eastern Express Highway and we are taking a part of it for construction,” the official said.

The official has appealed to people to take the Eastern Express Highway for the duration of the construction. “It would be better if people take the EEH than LBS Marg as it is already very congested. We would also like to appeal people to take public transport like buses and trains for at least the coming one and half years,” he said.

While the traffic police has sought at least 300 traffic wardens, the MMRDA currently has only 70 wardens. “We will be taking at least 200-250 more wardens,” the official said.

The 32-km corridor will connect Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavli. Meanwhile, Darade said the barricades for Metro 2A and 7 will be soon cleared. “All barricades for Metro 2A will be removed by April 2019 and for Metro 7 by December 2018,” he said.