PM Modi set to inaugurate India’s longest bridge in Mumbai

More than seven years after laying its foundation in December 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 22-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, also called the Atal Setu, the country’s longest sea bridge, during his day-long visit to Maharashtra on Friday.

The PM is scheduled to travel to Mumbai around 3.30 pm to inaugurate and take the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link or the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, to Navi Mumbai. Ahead of the inauguration of the Atal Setu, the Prime Minister will arrive in Nashik to inaugurate the 27th National Youth Festival at around 12.15pm. PM Modi is scheduled to hold a roadshow and pray at the well-known Kalaram Temple as well as the Ramkund and Goda Ghat areas.

Formally named ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewari-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu’, the bridge connects Sewri in Mumbai to Chirle in the state’s mainland district of Raigad at Navi Mumbai and is expected to cut travel time by around 45 minutes. The two-carriageway, six-lane bridge — comprising a 16.5-km long sea link and 5.5 km land viaducts on the approach at both ends — was constructed at a cost of over Rs 21, 200 crore, including a loan of Rs 15,100 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The sea bridge, built at a height of 15 metres from sea level, was the most difficult and arduous part was the construction of the segments of the project. In the marine portion, engineers and workers had to dig as deep as 47 metres in the sea bed. The bridge lying close to sensitive establishments like ONGC, JNPT and BARC made the construction of these segments more difficult, with engineers having to take care that they do not damage any underwater installations like pipelines or communication cables.

The MTHL will have specially-designed lighting poles to withstand high-velocity winds during monsoons, equipped with a Lightning Protection System to safeguard against potential damage caused by lightning.

Meanwhile, the safety of travellers will be ensured by crash barriers that are built, tested and meets international standards, with overall height of 1,550 mm. The barriers are a combination of concrete and metal with 900 mm of concrete section and the rest 650 mm is metal rail. It complies with International Standard EN 1317, a common testing and certification procedure for road restraint systems.

Once opened, the MTHL is projected to see 39,300 vehicles daily between the Sewri and Shivaji Nagar interchange, while 9,800 vehicles will run between the Shivaji Nagar and Chirle interchange.

The bridge, designed to have a life of 100 years and carry 70,000 vehicles daily, will reduce the travel distance from South Mumbai to Chirle by around 30 km and as it will take around 16 minutes to cross the bridge, it will save at least an hour of commute time.

The toll has been fixed at Rs 250 per car single journey (one way). The return toll will be one-and-a-half times of the toll amount while daily pass will be two-and-a-half times of the toll. The monthly pass will be 50 times of the toll amount.

One crore litres of fuel are projected to be saved per year by the use of this bridge, apart from the reduction of pollution levels, by about 25680 metric tonnes less of CO2 emissions.