The Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) (Marathi: वांद्रे वरळी सागरी सेतू), officially the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, (Marathi: राजीव गांधी सागरी सेतू), is a cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete viaduct approaches, which links Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli and central Mumbai, and is the first phase of the proposed West Island Freeway system.
The Rs. 1600 crore ($ 400 million approx.) project of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was executed by Hindustan Construction Company, with design and project management by DAR Consultants. 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 are in service.
The Sea Link reduces travel time between Bandra and Worli from 4560 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
The Bandra Worli Sea link project is a part of the Western Freeway Sea Project, which, in turn, is a part of a larger proposal to upgrade the road transportation network of greater Mumbai. It is primarily meant to provide an alternative to the Mahim Causeway route that is presently the only connection between South Mumbai and the Western and Central suburbs. The project starts from the intersection of Western Express Highway and SV Road at the Bandra end, and connects it to Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road (Worli Seaface) at the Worli end which in turn connects to Mumbai's arterial Annie Besant Road at the Narayan Pujari Nagar corner. The MSRDC has previously planned to open the remaining four lanes of the sea link by March 2010. However, the gruesome accidents taking place in a short span of time has altered the decision and the remaining lanes are expected to be in operation by the end of January 2010.
The project has been commissioned by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd (MSRDC), designed by DAR Consultants and is being built by Hindustan Construction Company
The entire project was originally conceived as one large project comprising, different components, but in order to accelerate the overall construction schedule, the project has been divided into five construction packages. These packages helped, to an extent, to make the project meet its deadline.
Package I: Construction of flyover over Love Grove junction at Worli
Package II: Construction of cloverleaf interchange at Mahim intersection
Package III: Construction of solid approach road from the Mahim intersection up to the start of the Toll Plaza on the Bandra side and a public promenade
Package IV: Construction of Cable-Stayed Bridges together with viaduct approaches extending from Worli up to the Toll Plaza at Bandra end, Intelligent Bridge System (IBS).
Package V: Improvement to Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road
Package IV is the largest and main phase of Bandra-Worli Sea Link Project that has been awarded to HCC that includes cable-stayed bridge, viaduct approaches extending from Worli up to Toll Plaza at Bandra end and Modern Toll Plaza
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.
9 окт 2024
