MUMBAI :Eastern Freeway to be completed today

Mumbai: The city's longest flyover, connecting the 9.29-km stretch from Orange Gate on P D'Mello Road to the Mahul creek salt pan between Anik and Chembur, will be completed on Saturday. It will also be the second largest flyover in the country, the largest being the one that connects Hyderabad airport to that city.      Still, the Eastern Freeway elevated road will be the longest such in an urban area in the country once the final concrete block is lifted and placed on Saturday afternoon. The bridge will have 313 pillars and 3,340 segments.      With the development, massive traffic decongestion on the eastern road corridor of the city will be achieved from May onwards, as the flyover forms part of an upcoming 17-km signal-free freeway. Mumbaikars would be able to enter and exit the road from eight points. While six pairs of ramps would become be operational in May, the remaining two will be opened to traffic in June at the earliest.      A 4.5-km mixed roadtunnel-flyover connectivity willcome about between Anik and Chembur; the freeway will offer Mumbaikars a much-awaited 20-minute road journey from CST to Chembur—the entry point there being at Panjarpol near R K Studios.      Thus, the 17-km freeway is divided in three parts: the 9.29-km elevated road, the 4.3-km road-tunnel-flyover and an elevated 2.5-km flyover from Panjarpol till the Mankhurd-Ghatkopar Link Road (MGLR) via Govandi.      "By May end, we will start the four-lane road up to Shivaji Chowk, Chembur, from CST, but for the last leg (till MGLR), we may need another one or two months," said a senior MMRDA official. "The second part of the freeway will be eight-laned to take traffic from four lanes of flyovers and four lanes of roads below. BRIDGING THE GAP: The Eastern Freeway elevated road will be the longest such in an urban area in the country, once its final concrete block is lifted and placed on Saturday afternoon