Mumbai will open three major bridges in Sion, Vidyavihar and Goregaon to traffic after prolonged delays, adding new capacity at congested junctions and improving east-west connectivity across the city. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation announced that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Ajit Pawar are scheduled to inaugurate the projects virtually, after which motorists will be allowed to use them.
The three projects have a combined cost of Rs 538 crore. They include the new Sion bridge, the Vidyavihar east-west connector and a 1.26-km elevated stretch in Goregaon East constructed as part of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project.
The new Sion bridge is expected to address a long-standing safety and capacity problem. The earlier structure, which was more than a century old, was declared unfit in a structural audit in 2019 and has been closed to traffic for more than two years. The replacement has been built at a cost of Rs 60 crore and is 61 metres long, compared with the earlier bridge’s 40 metres.
The new bridge will have four vehicular lanes, twice the number on the previous structure. It will also include a dedicated footpath connecting commuters to Sion railway station. An underpass has been provided to facilitate both vehicular and pedestrian movement in the area.
The Vidyavihar bridge, built at a cost of Rs 178 crore, will provide a direct connection between the eastern and western sides of the suburb. The link was conceived in 1991 and taken up for construction in 2016. Civic officials expect it to reduce travel time by up to 20 minutes for commuters using the connection.
The third project is a 1.26-km elevated corridor in Goregaon East, estimated to cost Rs 300 crore. It forms part of the larger Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project. The elevated stretch begins near the Dindoshi court and descends near Sanjay Gandhi National Park. From there, motorists will be able to continue towards Mumbai’s eastern suburbs using the existing road network.
The Goregaon elevated stretch is expected to ease traffic pressure on the Western Express Highway and provide an interim connection towards the eastern suburbs before the completion of the wider GMLR project. The link is therefore being opened as a usable section of a larger east-west transport corridor rather than as a standalone road project.
Although the bridges were ready for use, their opening was held up pending formal inauguration. The delay attracted criticism from citizens and opposition leaders, particularly because commuters continued to face congestion while the completed structures remained unused. Senior civic officials said finishing work, including painting and installing signboards, contributed to the delay.
The three openings will add capacity at locations where road connectivity has been constrained by ageing structures, railway infrastructure and limited east-west links. The BMC’s scheduled virtual inauguration is the immediate milestone, with traffic access to follow the ceremony.
