The Thane Coastal Road-1 project has crossed 40 per cent completion after 14 months of construction, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority reporting substantial progress on piling, piers, pier caps and girder erection along the 13.45-kilometre corridor.
MMRDA said on Wednesday that work was advancing at several locations on the six-lane, access-controlled greenfield road connecting Kharegaon Toll Naka with Gaimukh. The authority said foundation work, pier construction, pier-cap casting and I-girder erection were progressing simultaneously across the project.
As of September 2, construction teams had completed 332 of the planned 426 working piles, taking piling progress to about 77 per cent. A total of 277 piers, or roughly 65 per cent of the planned 426, had also been completed. The project has additionally recorded the casting of 460 pier caps.
Girder erection has reached 501 of the planned 1,632 I-girders, representing about 30 per cent progress on that component. Teams have also completed 13 deck-slab spans, according to the project update reported by Mid-Day.
The corridor is being developed as a strategic route to reduce congestion on Ghodbunder Road and improve the movement of traffic between National Highway 160, the Mumbai-Nashik Highway and Gaimukh along the Thane Creek coastline. A significant portion of the road will run on elevated viaducts and bridges, including an 8.11-kilometre elevated section and a 240-metre creek bridge.
Project authorities have said the road will use several engineering techniques, including what they describe as India’s first greenfield road application of a single-pile, single-pier system with monopile foundations on land. The alignment is also intended to limit the impact on areas containing sensitive mangrove ecosystems.
The project includes a 40- to 45-metre-wide Development Plan road reserved for the corridor. Officials expect this arrangement to help separate local traffic from longer-distance and intercity traffic currently using Ghodbunder Road. The completed route is expected to improve connections towards Thane, Nashik, Bhiwandi, Gujarat and North India.
At Gaimukh, Thane Coastal Road-1 is planned to connect directly with the upcoming Gaimukh-Fountain Hotel Tunnel. Together, the two projects are expected to improve connectivity between Thane and Bhayandar and provide an additional route for freight movement towards Wadhawan Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, South Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The coastal road is also planned to connect with several future transport projects, including the Thane Ring Metro, Thane Coastal Road-2, the Saket-Amane Elevated Corridor and the Kasarvadavali-Kharbhav Road. Officials said the projects are expected to form part of Thane’s wider future transport network. The latest progress update follows a recent meeting held by the state’s transport minister on the region’s transport infrastructure, according to the report.
