The road and bridge network connecting Navi Mumbai International Airport to Belapur, Ulwe, Panvel, Khandeshwar, Karnjade and Kalamboli has been completed, but the routes are still awaiting inauguration, leaving passengers and freight vehicles without the planned access alternatives, Loksatta reported on October 1.
The completed works include major bridges, approach roads and signal systems on the eastern side of the airport. The network is intended to improve access to both the passenger and cargo facilities and reduce the detours currently required by traffic approaching the airport from surrounding parts of Navi Mumbai and Panvel.
One of the key links will connect traffic from the Kalamboli Junction towards National Highway 548 and directly to the airport’s cargo entrance. The route is designed to allow container traffic arriving from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, or JNPA, to reach the airport’s cargo facilities through a dedicated and more direct connection.
According to the report, this is the first project in Maharashtra to provide a direct link for containers to an airport cargo entrance. The road connection is expected to create a separate movement route between the port and the airport, two major freight-generating assets in the Navi Mumbai region.
The eastern interchange being developed by the National Highways Authority of India will connect with the SBR-9 route developed through the City and Industrial Development Corporation. From there, vehicles will be able to reach the road network on the northern side of the airport. The combined system is intended to strengthen traffic movement from the eastern and northern approaches.
CIDCO has spent ₹191 crore on a 60-metre-wide bridge connecting the airport cargo entrance, the report said. Once opened, the route will provide access from Belapur and Ulwe towards the airport’s passenger and cargo entrances, as well as towards Panvel, Karnjade and Kalamboli.
The wider road and bridge package is valued at ₹813 crore, according to the report. Its importance extends beyond airport passengers because the network is also being designed to handle commercial and container traffic moving between the port, the airport and the surrounding urban centres.
However, the completed infrastructure has not yet become operational because it is still awaiting inauguration. Until the opening takes place, vehicles from Belapur, Ulwe, Panvel, Khandeshwar and Karnjade cannot use the new access options described in the report. The status of the inauguration is therefore the immediate milestone for converting the completed works into an active transport connection.
The project’s next step is the formal opening of the roads, bridges and signal systems. No inauguration date was provided in the supplied report.
