Eastern Freeway ramps connecting SoBo to central suburbs to be ready this month.

The travel between south Mumbai and central suburbs of Sion and surrounding areas is going to be smoother and faster as the proposed ramps on the Eastern Freeway at Anik will be open to traffic by the end of the month.

At present, commuters have to take a creek bridge at Anik Junction and go almost 1.5km in the opposite direction towards Panjarpol and then take a U-turn under RCF flyover to go to south Mumbai.

The construction of these ramps was slated to finish in December 2013 but several issues with construction led to a delay of nearly two years. The unseasonal rains were also to blame for the additional delay.

Senior officials of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the entry and exit ramps at Anik were supposed to be ready by October and November respectively, but were delayed due to unseasonal rains during that time.

A senior official said that the ramps are nearly completed and will be ready in a fortnight. 'Due to unseasonal rain last month, we could not go ahead with the asphalting work. Now we will do asphalting work immediately. These ramps are expected to be made ready for traffic by the month-end,' a senior official said.

MMRDA officials said that the primary reason for the two-year delay is marshy land near Anik making the construction difficult before resurfacing it for stronger foundation.

Once these ramps are thrown open, motorists coming from Priyadarshini Circle using the Wadala Truck Terminus (WTT) road can take the freeway using these ramps by taking the 700m long road that will connect WTT road and Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) road.



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