First cable-stayed skywalk to be ready next month

The last leg of work on the city’s only cable-stayed skywalk at Grant Road begins on Thursday.

The work of installing high-tensile steel cables – these are wires that will hold up the structure in a suspended manner, quite like your sea link – will commence on Thursday and is expected to be wrapped up in a month’s time – April 2013.

The project, which is estimated to cost Rs45 crore, was initially slated for completion in March 2010. If completed by next month, the skywalk will be ready for use three years after its scheduled time.

An official of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) confirmed that installation of the cables would begin on Thursday.

One of the main reasons the oval-shaped skywalk has been cable-stayed is the busy Nana Chowk junction beneath. “We had to use a minimum number of piers to prop it up so as not to use up a lot of road space below,” said the official.

Nana Chowk is a converging point for roads from five locations – Tardeo, Kemp’s Corner, Lamington Road, Girgaum Chowpatty and Opera House.

Moreover, a slew of underground utilities zig-zagging at that particular spot made the use of cables mandatory. “With the structure and piers of the Grant Road skywalk ready, the laying of the high-tensile wires will set the ball rolling for one of the major final tasks,” said the official.

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