Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde inaugurates Kopri bridge in Thane on his birthday

Thane: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday, February 9 finally inaugurated the much awaited Kopri Bridge in the city. The inauguration coincided with his birthday.

The Kopri Rail Over Bridge in Thane, which falls on Eastern Express Highway, earlier was a four-lane bridge and has now been widened into eight-lane bridge by the Mumbai Metropolitan Development Authority.

The MMRDA bore the expenses of widening the bridge which is 784-meters long and 37.04 meters wide; however, the portions of bridge over the railway crossing was constructed by Central Railway, and the MMRDA funded the same.

The entire cost of 784 meters long and  37.04 meters wide bridge has been borne by MMRDA. The bridge portion over the railway crossing is constructed by Central Railway for which MMRDA funded them.

For the vehicular traffic that came from the 10-lane Eastern Express Highway on the four-lane bridge, it lead to bottlenecks during peak hours creating a traffic jam which motorists dreaded.

With the widening, the congestion will be dealt with and it will also benefit small and heavy vehicles plying on the EEH.

Kopri bridge project also included construction of 40-m-long and 21.2-m-wide four-lane vehicular underpass connecting Naupada junction to Dnyansadhana college and a new Kopri station was proposed.

"Kopri Bridge is an imperative link connecting Mumbai and Thane districts. As the old bridge was narrow, caused heavy traffic jam on both sides of EEH. Motorists was taking 30 to 40 mins to cover  few meters during peak hours. Due to the new wide bridge, the passengers will now save their precious time and fuel. Along with this, there will be a big reduction in the traffic at Teen Hath Naka as well" said MMRDA chief SVR Srinivas.