New Delhi: Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) or Atal Setu, the longest sea bridge in the country will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. The sea bridge is set to speed up the life of Mumbaikars by ensuring fast & quick connectivity between key landmarks of the city including Mumbai-Navi Mumbai and will therefore bring a sea-change transformation in the economic capital.
The sea bridge, built at a cost of Rs 21,200 crore has been named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Christened as ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewari-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu’, it is the longest sea bridge in India and ranks 12th longest in the world.
Dubbed as Mumbai’s gamechanger project, it has been in the making for past six years and will start operations after inauguration by the Prime Minister.
The biggest advantage of the upcoming sea bridge is that it will curtail travel time as well as traffic snarl between Mumbai & Navi Mumbai. According to official estimates, two-hour arduous journey between the economic capital & its suburb will get reduced to mere 20 minutes and will also save people from traffic snarls.
Sanjay Mukherjee, Metropolitan Commissioner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) told mediapersons that earlier distance of 42 km between two cities will now get ‘replaced’ by 22 km journey and will save fuel & hours of travel time.
5 key facts about Atal Setu
1) The sea bridge, touted as India’s longest & world’s 12th longest, comprises of six-lane highway with 16.5 km long sea route & 5.5 km long elevated road on land. According to officials, the bridge is designed to carry 70,000 vehicles on any given day with vehicles plying through the corridor at 100 km/hour speed.
2) Atal Setu, an engineering marvel has seen extensive use of steel in its construction. As per official figures, steel equivalent to 17 times that of Eiffel Tower’s weight has been used in its construction. To be precise, 504,253 metric tonnes of cement and 177,903 metric tonnes of steel was used in construction.
3) The bridge will facilitate smooth & quick connectivity across many zones of the city. It will connect Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Mumbai-Goa Highway and will also have interchange facilities at Sewri, Shivaji-Nagar, Chirle. About 70,000 vehicles can cross the bridge in one day. Maximum speed limit has been fixed at 100 km/hr. Vehicles like motorbikes, autorickshaws & tractors have been barred from plying on this sea link.
4) Once open for public, Atal Setu will become most expensive toll road of Inida’s economic capital. A passenger using this sea link will have to pay Rs 250 as one-way toll while returning charges will be extra. The rates will be different for daily & regular commuters. Till now, Bandra-Worli Sea Link was the most expensive toll road, levying charges of Rs 85 for one-way trip and Rs 127 for return journey.
5) The upcoming Atal Setu will give an unprecedented boost to the realty market in entire region. Real estate prices are set to multiply manifold in cities like Panvel, Ulwe, and Dronagiri as they will get directly linked to the bridge. Navi Mumbai will see fresh & rapid realty push in months & years to come.
