The Vashi Bridge, also known as Thane Creek Bridge or the Second Thane Creek Bridge, is a road

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

completed in the late 1990s across

Thane Creek Thane Creek (or Thana Creek) is an inlet in the shoreline of the Arabian Sea that isolates the city of Mumbai (Bombay) from the Konkan region of the Indian mainland. It comprises the area between Mumbra Retibunder and the Mankhurd-Vashi Bridg ...

, which connects the city of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

to the Indian mainland at

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, located in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The city i ...

. The bridge links the suburb of

Mankhurd Mankhurd (Pronunciation: aːnkʰuɾd̪(ə) is a suburb in eastern Mumbai, Maharashtra. Mankhurd railway station is on the Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. Geography The Mankhurd suburb is part of and the easternmost boundary of ...

in Mumbai with

Vashi Juhu Vashi (Pronunciation: �aːʃiː is an upmarket residential and commercial node in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, across the Thane Creek of the Arabian Sea on the outskirts of city of Mumbai. The Juhu Vashi is named after the largest village ...

in Navi Mumbai, the satellite city of Mumbai. It is one of four entry points into Mumbai (the other three being the

Airoli Bridge The Airoli Bridge is a bridge in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of India. It was constructed to establish a direct road link between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Structure The Afcons Infrastructure Ltd company of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group co ...

upstream across Thane Creek,

Mulund Mulund (Pronunciation: uluɳɖ is a suburb in the north-east of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is also a railway station on the Central Railway line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is also the first railway station of Mumbai Suburban dis ...

, and Dahisar), and handles traffic directed towards the region to the south and east of Mumbai. The bridge replaces the old Thane Creek or Vashi Bridge, built in 1973 and still standing to the north of the current bridge, but now closed to traffic because of faulty construction. , it is planned to build a third Thane Creek/Vashi Bridge. There is also a

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

to the south of both road bridges.

History

Old bridge

The first bridge to connect Mumbai to Navi Mumbai was conceived by Adi Kanga and was built in 1973. The bridge is in length and has a substandard three-lane carriageway. Within two years of its opening to traffic, corrosion cracks were noted on the bottom side of the prestressed girders of some spans. This led to a series of extensive repairs including external prestressing. It was simultaneously decided to construct a new bridge to replace the faulty one.

Construction of new bridge

Construction on a new bridge began in 1987 and opened to traffic in 1994 (or 1995 or 1997). The original Vashi Bridge or the 1st Thane Creek Bridge remains closed to traffic., by Darryl D'Monte. Proof Consultants were appointed to oversee each aspect of planning, design and construction. Open foundations were taken into the bedrock with foundation concrete being laid in the dry, with the sea water being pumped out using submersible pumps. The piers in the intertidal zone were protected by epoxy coal tar paint painted on thick m.s. plate which was considered as a lost shuttering. The superstructure was a P. S. C. box girder, one for each carriageway, constructed using balanced cantilever cast-in-situ segments. It was constructed by U. P. State Bridge Corporation Ltd., and won the most outstanding concrete structure award.

Description

The present Vashi Bridge is a box girder bridge, carrying a six-lane dual carriageway, with a length of ( downstream). It has several unique features in its construction and design, with emphasis on durability and a formal QA/QC programme.

Third bridge planned

Lane expansion work on Vashi Bridge was scheduled to begin in 2018, with the authorities identifying Larsen and Toubro as the lowest bidder for the contract. A High Court decision cleared the way for construction to proceed in January 2020, but , the new bridge had not yet started construction. Concerns were raised about the amount of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

s that would be lost under the current plan, an estimated .

Bridge locations

The old bridge lies just to the north of the present Vashi Bridge, and the

further south (labelled "Mankhurd Vashi Railway Bridge"), can be seen on the map. The

is further upstream across Thane Creek, while the

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, also known as the Sewri–Nhava Sheva Trans Harbour Link, is an under-construction 21.8 km (13.5 mi) 6-lane expressway grade road bridge, which will connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai, its satellite city. ...

is under construction further south.

References

{{Reflist Bridges in Maharashtra Transport in Navi Mumbai Buildings and structures in Navi Mumbai Box girder bridges Bridges completed in 1997 1997 establishments in Maharashtra