On Saturday, PWD officials replaced four of the expansion joints with grouting. The same will be carried out on the two remaining ones during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
A smoother driving experience on Kalanagar flyover awaits you from Monday onwards, but only on south-bound lanes.
"For the past few years, the expansion joints had become uneven due to wear and tear, making them equivalent to speed breakers. Now, users will not have to face those speed breakers. It will be a smooth ride," said S S Deshmukh, executive engineer, Public Works Department.
Due to the uneven surface, the area had become an accident-prone stretch.
On Saturday, PWD officials replaced four of the expansion joints with grouting. The same will be carried out on the two remaining ones during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
These expansion joints, which contract or expand as per varying temperatures, need to be replaced after every decade. But in this case, the same wasn't done ever since the bridge was opened for public use, i.e. from May 1999.
"Excessive wear and tear of the expansion joints also exposes the structure to more load on piers and other components, thereby reducing its life. Periodical maintenance and replacement ensures that the overall life of the bridge increases," Deshmukh said.
The work is being carried out at an approximate cost of Rs16 lakh for south-bound lanes, while the overall estimate is Rs33 lakh.
Due to this pre-monsoon repair work, the commuters travelling on the route on Saturday once again faced traffic snarls.
Hiten Mistrey, a commuter from Kandivli to Sion who is a regular traveller on the Western Express Highway (WEH), said, "I had to wait for an extra 20 to 25 minutes to get out of the traffic and make it to office on Friday. Today, I opted for local trains to avoid the traffic."
Another motorist, Gunjan Furiya, who was traveling from Bandra Kurla Complex to Bandra station, said, "I travel by a private bus, and it usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to reach the station, but on Friday I was stuck in traffic for an hour."
Annoyed commuters also took to social media sites to express their displeasure.
A senior traffic police inspector said, "Today (Saturday), the situation is under control. Yesterday, the traffic was a little difficult to handle. The alternate routes that can be opted for by people to avoid traffic jams are SV Road, the freeway and the Eastern Express Highway."
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