No barricades on Western Express Highway by 2018 end: MMRDA

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has stated that the Western Express Highway (WEH) will be free of Metro barricades by the end of the year and Link Road will be free of barricades by April 2019.

With the MMRDA claiming that the work will be completed within the aforementioned period, the move will be benefiting a lot of people who commute from the western suburbs everyday.

Currently, the MMRDA is carrying civil construction work on the two Metro corridors — Dahisar DN Nagar Metro-2A on Link Road and Dahisar East- Andheri East Metro-7 corridor — on WEH. Almost 50 per cent of the construction work is already completed.

Pravin Darade, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA said, "We have started removing Metro barricades on WEH and Link Road wherever work is completed and I can assure that WEH will be Metro barricades free by December 2018 and Link Road will be Metro barricades free by April 2019."

Darade added, "Once the installation piers and u-griders is completed, the remaining work like signaling, telecommunication and laying of tracks will be above the ground or at Metro stations, and we will not require barricades to be in place later."

The MMRDA is currently in the process of placing orders for driverless Metro coaches for three Metro corridors namely Metro-7, Metro-2A and DN Nagar - Mandale Metro-2B corridor. However, while WEH and Link Road will get Metro barricades free, Eastern Express Highway, SV Road and LBS Marg will get Metro barricades for Metro-2B and Wadala-Thane Metro-4 corridor.