There is a plan by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to build a bridge between Kopri (thane side) and Patni (Navi Mumbai side).
The decision has been taken based on the congestion, so as to remove the missing connection link resulting in decongestion of other roads in Thane East.
The problem is to arrange the traffic and vehicular connectivity across Thane Creek on either side of the river bank.
At present, travelling using the existing route, the journey takes more than half an hour to travel from thane to Navi Mumbai through Thane city, Kalwa, Digha, Belapur road to criss-cross Thane creek.
After the commencement of the road bridge, the journey will take 5-7 minutes.
There is a tender which is being floated to get to a consultant who would prepare the report on the creek bridge.
The cost of the bridge will be between 234 crores, and there is an idea that the cost might go up.
The report lays out some facts which state that the bridge span would be around 600 meters, whereas the approach roads would be about 400 meters.
The idea is to build a bridge from Kopri’s Visarjan ghat to Patni. This will ease the traffic woes of people living around Knowledge Park, Airoli, Vitawa and Thane.
Also, people travelling to Navi-Mumbai, Thane, for work purposes will significantly benefit from this bridge.
This will also reduce the time between Thane railway station on the central railway’s main line and the new Digha railway station on the trans-harbour line. The other road link to pass the creek will be the road laying the path between Mulund and Airoli.