Thane: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) plans to barricade the arterial Kopri-Thane station road for vehicular traffic for nearly 30 months to facilitate construction of its ambitious Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (Satis) 2 project in Thane east from December.Activists fear the work could lead to massive snarls in the area, especially as lakhs of residents from Ghodbunder Road and beyond travel via Kopri to access Thane railway station daily. However, civic officials have assured of adequate preparations to tackle the menace.The Rs 266 crore-worth project involves construction of an elevated loop road for public transport buses connecting Teen Hath Naka to Thane station via Kopri and back. The idea, said officials, was to ensure fast dispersal of public transport buses that often get stuck in traffic. The two-lane uni-directional road will take off from the gurudwara abutting Bhaskar colony in Thane west and cross over the railway tracks and run over the Kopri road to reach Thane station and then turn via Mangala high school and land at Kanhaiya Nagar.The TMC has floated tenders for execution of the project and plans to start ground work by December 2018 and end it by June 2021. Accordingly, the civic body said that they will have to dig up nearly 25 spots enroute to erect pillars for the elevated road and will also have to barricade lanes thus causing inconvenience for motorists.“Once the work starts, the traffic might have to be regulated or diverted to Thane west adding to the chaos there,” said an official from traffic department.“The Thane east route via Kopri is the only fastest route to access the railway station as the west side is very crowded,” complained Meeta Sharma, a regular commuter from Ghodbunder Road to Thane station.Meanwhile, the civic body said they will formulate a plan to ensure motorists are not inconvenienced.“The road will require to be dug up to erect pillars. We will take up the construction in phases to ensure there is minimal roadblock,” said an engineer from the TMC public works department.

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