Mumbai: The 750-metre extension to the Mrinal Tai Gore Flyover in Goregaon, which has been in the works since 2019, promises to let commuters bypass three congested junctions in the western suburbs. However, despite their fervent anticipation, commuters don’t have much faith in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) November 2025 deadline.
The extension will be a game-changer, said Dhaval Shah, co-founder of the Andheri Lokhandawala Oshiwara Citizens Association, as the flyover is the only east-west connector that takes vehicles directly onto the Western Express Highway (WEH) in Goregaon in both the northbound and southbound directions. “Once the extension starts, it will cater to many more populous areas and become the connector of choice for people living in Lokhandwala, Oshiwara, Versova, Jogeshwari and Goregaon,” he said.
“But the big question is: when?” he added.
The flyover — named by the Shiv Sena posthumously after the fiery socialist leader who had even earned the ire of its founder, Bal Thackeray — opened up to traffic in 2016, linking the WEH in Goregaon East to the Ram Mandir Junction in the west. However, the flyover was supposed to traverse another 750 metres west up to Relief Road in Jogeshwari, allowing vehicles to zip through traffic on Ram Mandir Road, SV Road and Link Road.
Originally planned to open along with the main flyover in 2016, the extension suffered setbacks due to fears the design would increase traffic on SV Road. It finally got a nod in 2018, but it took another year for work orders to be given.
Despite the delay, construction work has been going on at a snail’s pace, according to commuters. “Hardly any work happened during Covid,” said Manish Nagori, who lives at the Ram Mandir junction and can see the extension being built from his window. “Even now, work is very rare to see.”
According to an official from the BMC’s bridges department, the delay was because utilities had to be shifted and multiple permissions were required from various authorities, which only allowed for work to happen in a piecemeal fashion due to the heavy traffic flow.
“The extension passes over road-level bridges on two rivers, the Walbut River and the Oshiwara River. In 2018, the Oshiwara River bridge was declared dilapidated, and we had to reconstruct it. But as that route has a lot of traffic, we’ve had to do the work in phases, which doubles the work and time. We reconstructed one side of the bridge, which was opened after last year’s monsoon, and are now working on the other side. But while at it, we wanted to ensure that both the bridges – the bridge going over the creek and the extension – rest on the same foundation piers,” said the official, who requested anonymity as they aren’t authorised to speak to the media.
Nagori seconds this, noting that the landing of the extension on Relief Road is closer to completion, but all the piers on the Oshiwara bridge are not yet standing. “But even the side of Oshiwara bridge, which has been reconstructed and is now in use, had been completed for a month before it was opened,” he said, adding that the November deadline was “impossible”.
Shah, too, had frustrations to air. “The bridge over the Oshiwara River is barely 50 metres long, and work has been ongoing for six years now. There’s no reason for it to have taken so long. And if this is their track record, there’s no way the extension will be completed this year.”
According to the BMC official, 70% of the work on the extension is complete, and the foundations have been built. “Girders will be launched in the first or second week of April after we get permissions from the traffic police.”
The official added that the flyover extension will provide connectivity to the proposed Versova-Dahisar Coastal Road. One of the interchanges will be at Millat Nagar near Oshiwara, which will be a quick zip from this intersection. “Then, vehicles can go straight to the WEH.”
While that’s still some way off, hopefully in the near future, commuters heading from Lokhandawala and Oshiwara to the east can look forward to the flyover extension saving them a good 15 minutes of travel time. Amaan Patel, a real estate agent who travels often to these areas for work, said, “Right now, it would take me more than 30 minutes, especially at peak times. But when the extension is up and running, it won’t take more than 15 minutes.”
But equally, for those living and choosing to travel to areas in between, like Nagori, the diversion in traffic will reduce the chaos on the road and aid their commute.
