A week after he flagged off the Metro in the city, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan threw open the final leg of the Eastern Freeway on Monday.
The 16.59-km route between Orange Gate in south Mumbai to Ghatkopar in the eastern suburbs is expected to cut travel time by almost 50 minutes. What usually takes one-and-a-half hours to travel by road at peak hours, is now likely to be covered in 25 minutes.
The 2.8-km Panjarpol-Ghatkopar link, will now help in seamless travel. It is a 2.8-km elevated road that will enable motorists to travel from P D’Mello road in south Mumbai to the mouth of Ghatkopar in roughly 30 minutes. The freeway, at the moment, terminates at the Panjarpol junction in Chembur. The traffic at the junction will now be eased.
“The travel time will reduce and help commuters,” said Mr Chavan.
The rush of inauguration comes months before the Maharashtra Assembly election.
Mr Chavan also inaugurated the Kherwadi flyover on Monday. The 580-metre-long Kherwadi flyover will help south-bound traffic to skip the congestion at Kherwadi junction on the Western Express Highway. The completion of this flyover points to a signal-free ride for south-bound commuters on the Western Express Highway as there will be a series of flyover between Dahisar and Worli.
