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The Bandra Worli Sea Link will be an 8-lane, cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete viaduct approaches, which will link Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli and central Mumbai, and is the first phase of the proposed West Island Freeway system. The Rs. 1600 crore project of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is being executed by Hindustan Construction Company. Although expected to have been completed by December 2008, after a long delay of 5 years, construction is still underway. The bridge is now slated to open in the third week of June. The Sea Link will enable speedy travel between Bandra and Worli, cutting travel times from 60�75 minutes to 7 minutes.Presently, the Mahim Causeway is the only link connecting the western suburbs to island city of Mumbai. The existing north�southwestern corridor is highly congested and during the peak hours results in a bottleneck at Mahim Causeway. The sea link will act as an alternate route between the western suburbs of Mumbai and central Mumbai, in addition to the existing Mahim Causeway. This link will also form a part of the west island freeway.
Access will be controlled on the Worli e
nd by toll plazas on the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road, and on the Bandra end by toll plazas at Love Grove Junction.Vehicular traffic measuring about 120,000 PCU travels on the Mahim Causeway everyday and during peak hours and it takes about forty minutes to travel from Mahim to Worli, a distance of about 8 km.
MSRDC has awarded the contract of constructing the Bandra Worli Sea-Link � Package - IV to the Hindustan Construction Company and its foreign partner, the China Harbour Engineering Corporation, which has successfully completed similar projects. HCC has the responsibility of maintaining the bridge during the damage liability period of five years.
The original project design was modified to include two separate towers for the main cable stay bridge. In addition to this, the bridge was realigned around 150 meters into the sea and an additional cable stay bridge was introduced at the Worli side to increase the height of the bridge to accommodate the demands of local fishermen of Worli Koliwada to ease the vessel movement under the bridge closer to their habitat. Due to the change in the scope of work, the project was delayed in the initial stages, which resulted in increased project cost. Presently the work is in
full swing and the Bandra Worli Sea-Link is expected to be complete by March 2009. The new projected date is almost a year later than earlier estimates.The Bandra Cable Stay Bridge, part of the Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) was connected to the approach spans on May 27, 2008. This is a significant milestone towards completion of the Sea Link being built by HCC prior to the onset of Mumbai�s monsoon this season.
The Bandra Cable Stay section of the BWSL spans 600 m in length and towers to a height of 126 m (equivalent to a 43 storied building). The Cable Stay system comprises 2,250 km of high strength galvanized steel wires which support the Cable Stay Bridge weighing 20,000 ton. An engineering marvel and the first ever open Sea Bridge of its kind, the Bandra Worli Sea Link is one of the most complex and advanced construction projects in India.
The project was initiated more than 10 years ago but it was delayed due to public interest litigations and inability on the part of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd. (MSRDC), which is the main developer of the project, to adhere to the project milestones. Mr Anil Deshmukh, State Public Works Minister (Public Undertakings), addressing the media, said that the original cost of the bridge was Rs 300 crore but due to opposition from the Worli fisherfolk the project was delayed and costs escalated. The project was then Added up more 3.6 km adding up total cost of around 1200, escalating it from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1800 crore. Which extended Bandra-Worli Sea Link to 2.0 km to 5.6 km, adding up more 3.6 km which extended it up till Haji Ali. Mr Anil Deshmukh added that the toll on the sea link would be collected for 30 years. For passenger car, the toll would be Rs 50 and for light commercial vehicle, it would be Rs 75.
