Expansion of Kopri Bridge: Soon, commuting between Thane and Mumbai to get more convenient! Development work on the expansion of the Kopri Bridge is near completion. The bridge connects Thane to the financial capital in Maharashtra. The extended stretch is likely to be thrown open for the public to use within a fortnight, according to an IE report. The expansion project of widening the Kopri Bridge from an existing four lane stretch to an eight lane stretch is under execution by the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority). The Kopri Bridge expansion project is being executed at a cost of Rs 250 crore.
According to the report, this stretch is used by vehicles headed to the city of Thane, north Maharashtra, north India, Kalyan Dombivali. The expansion work was required because of the deteriorating condition of the existing bridge. Commissioner of MMRDA S V R Srinivas was quoted in the report saying that the bridge expansion will ease traffic to the city of Thane as well as other places. The extended stretch will also ease traffic to the Thane railway station, the Commissioner said. The extended stretch of Kopri Bridge will be opened in some time as some issues still need to be sorted out, Srinivas added.
Once the traffic stabilizes on the new stretch, the authorities are thinking of demolishing the older portion of Kopri Bridge and building a new one in its place. According to the Deputy Police Commissioner of Thane’s traffic police branch, Balasaheb Patil, after the inauguration of the new flyover, the existing one will be redeveloped, thus, the flow of traffic on the flyover will be smooth. A report has already been given by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay that the existing bridge is very weak and it needs to be pulled down, Patil said. He was told that the old bridge will be reconstructed by February 2022, the Deputy Commissioner of Police added.