Mumbai's Vidyavihar Flyover Nears Opening, Approach Road Cost Rises ₹10.62 Crore To ₹106.18 Crore

Mumbai's Vidyavihar Flyover, set to open shortly, sees a significant rise in the cost of its approach road. The revised project cost has jumped from Rs 95.55 crore to Rs 106.18 crore, with an additional Rs 10.62 crore allocated for the approach road. The proposal for this extra expenditure will be presented to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) standing committee on Wednesday.

The road alignment was revised to prevent the displacement of residents. Initially, the proposed 36.50-metre-wide road on the western side faced obstacles due to existing buildings. Demolishing buildings and relocating around 53 residential tenement holders was deemed undesirable. Thus, the civic body altered the road alignment and integrated these changes into the original bridge design. This adjustment, however, led to an increased cost of approximately Rs 10.62 crore.

The Vidyavihar Flyover will link Ramkrishna Chemburkar Marg on the eastern side with Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg on the western side. It will also offer pedestrian access to Vidyavihar railway station, enhancing connectivity for commuters between the eastern and western parts of the suburb. Once functional, the connector is projected to cut peak-hour travel time between Vidyavihar East and West from the current 40–45 minutes to roughly 10–15 minutes.

This improvement in connectivity is expected to alleviate traffic congestion along the Vidyavihar-Ghatkopar-Kurla corridor.