In a significant milestone, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis will flag off a 'bus' to traverse a short distance on the just-completed and much-awaited Mumbai Trans Harbour Link on Wednesday (May 24), officials said here on Monday.With the 180-metre long deck slab getting installed, the 22 km sea-link will be ready end-to-end though it will be opened for regular traffic operations only by November 2023, according to a senior Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) official.
To mark the deck slab installation completion ('hand-shake'), Shinde and Fadnavis will show the green flag to a bus carrying MMRDA officials and engineers, which will go on a symbolic short drive on the new thoroughfare, said an official.The 30.1 metre wide, six-lane, cable-stayed bridge is being built at a cost of over Rs 17,800 crore with 85 per cent funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).The total MTHL runs over a length of 22 km, comprising 16.5 km above the sea, and 5.5 km approach roads on both ends - Sewri on the Mumbai side and Nhava on the Navi Mumbai side, and has been executed by the MMRDA.After the token ceremony on May 24, work will proceed to the remaining stages like installing crash barriers, asphalting the deck, erecting view-cutters, setting up the open toll collection centres, security and surveillance systems, markers and signages, waterproofing the engineering structure, lights and reflectors etc. over the next four-five months.The MTHL -- envisaged 30 years ago -- is billed as an engineering marvel that will slash the travel time from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai on the mainland from the existing two-three hours to barely 20 minutes, and is likely to be used by 70,000 vehicles daily.This will save time, fuel, the environment and provide a link to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, special economic and residential zones coming up in the region and also significantly cut the road journey time to other places like Pune and Goa and beyond, thus decongesting Mumbai traffic.