Man Made Marvel:- Bandra Worli Sea-link

The Bandra–Worli Sea Link officially the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, is a cable stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete viaduct approaches, which links Bandra, the queen of suburbs and other western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli and Central Mumbai. The 1600 crore project of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was executed by Hindustan Construction Company. The bridge was dedicated to the public on 30 June 2009 by Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, although only 4 of 8 lanes were opened to service. All the 8 lanes were opened to traffic on 24 March 2010. The Sea Link reduces travel time between Bandra and Worli from 45–60 minutes to 7 minutes. The link has an average daily traffic of around 37,500 vehicles per day, about half the pre-opening estimate of 70,000.

Mahim Causeway was the only link connecting the western suburbs to island city of Mumbai. This north-southwestern corridor would be highly congested resulting in a bottleneck at rush hours. The sea link was thus proposed to act as an alternate route between the western suburbs of Mumbai and central Mumbai, in addition to the existing Mahim Causeway, thus easing congestion. This link would also form a part of the larger West Island Freeway spanning the entire coastline. The project was initiated more than 10 years ago in 1999 and was supposed to be completed within 5 years but it was delayed due to public interest litigations. The foundation stone was laid in 1999, by Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. It was to cost 300 crore and finished in 2004.

Before undertaking the construction, there were several major challenges to be addressed namely, The foundations of the bridge included 604 large diameter shafts drilled to lengths of 6m to 34m in geotechnical conditions that varied from highly weathered volcanic material to massive high strength rocks. The superstructure of the approach bridges were the heaviest spans in the country to be built with span-by-span method using overhead gantry through a series of vertical and horizontal curves. A one-of-its-kind, diamond shaped 128m high concrete tower with flaring lower legs, converging upper legs, unified tower head housing the stays and a throughout varying cross section along the height of tower. Erection of 20000 MT Bandra cable-stayed deck supported on stay cables within a very close tolerance of deviations in plan and elevation.

Although the project was cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, there had been several doubts raised by different groups about its impact on the marine ecology as well as environment. It was argued that the Mithi’s flow would be obstructed by the pillars of the bridge.

Some of the other issues the project had to contend with were encroachment within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), coastal erosion and contamination of downstream water due to the construction of the bridge and increased pollution in the area as a result of explosion in volume of vehicular traffic. Therafter, Public Interest Litigations (PILs), environmental and logistical problems kept delaying the project. Rising costs saw the April 2008 deadline being pushed further back. Apart from this, fishermen of Worli Koliwada and Mahim were opposed to BSWL as they felt it would harm their livelihood if fishing areas were reclaimed. They had repeatedly demanded that the distance between a pair of consecutive piers be increased so that their fishing vessels could have a smooth passage into the sea. Fresh controversy in this regard meant that the December 2008 deadline also could not be met. In an effort to appease the fisherfolk, the original project design was modified and two towers were added to the cable-stay bridge.

June 29, 2009: It was a treat for Mumbaikars to witness the spectacular laser show and fireworks on the eve of inauguration of the much awaited Bandra-Worli sea link. The show was visible from the sea fronts in Dadar, Bandra, Worli and Mahim in the evening. It was an orchestrated display of multi-coloured lasers and fireworks of aerial shells and other spectacular illuminating display. A modern toll plaza with 16 lanes is provided at the Bandra end. The toll plaza is equipped with a state-of-the-art toll collection system.

The view from the sea-link is amazing, I have been there a lot of times. It feels great to drive on the sea-link, it saves time and so people prefer going by sea-link to Worli rather than using the old causeway route.