No one had believed MSRDC when they claimed that the flyover on the Western Express Highway near the Mumbai domestic airport junction would be partially opened for traffic on the 15th of July. But true to their word, the north-bound part of the flyover was duly inaugurated on 15th as planned.

I know for a fact that people heaved sighs of relief knowing that the days of crawling, bumper-to-bumper traffic in that area were at an end. One FM radio station in Mumbai had even run a contest in the last few days asking people if they believed the flyover would indeed be inaugurated as planned on the 15th. I had also experienced those terrible traffic snarls while commuting back from work.

For now, the three lanes that have been opened for traffic have been divided into two single lanes for traffic to flow in either direction. With this arrangement, the traffic situation has improved tremendously. I know that because I tried out the flyover in both directions during my commute to and from office today. The surface finishing on the flyover is tacky and the haste to meet the 15th July deadline shows in the rough edges. But for once MSRDC delivered on their promise (even though the promise was given after repeatedly failing to meet earlier deadlines) and one can only hope that the flyover will begin full service on 31st December 2008, which incidentally is the second half of MSRDC’s promise regarding the domestic airport junction flyover.