The barricades will be put up on the service road of the Eastern Express Highway. Express File The barricades will be put up on the service road of the Eastern Express Highway. Express File

Thane is witnessing its first-ever Metro construction work with the beginning of Metro 4 corridor. The contractors have begun to put up barricades to conduct soil testing.

“The contractors have begun barricading small patches for soil testing from this week. While we began soil testing in Mumbai much earlier, we received permission for testing from Thane Police just last week. So, the work there has started late,” said a senior official from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Develop-ment Authority (MMRDA).

The work will be carried out in two packages between Mulund Naka and Kasarvadavali and will be carried out by a consortium of TATA Project Limited and China Harbour Engineering Co and another consortium of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and ASTALDI.

The barricades will be put up on the service road of the Eastern Express Highway. For soil testing, they will installed only at those areas where the pier will be constructed and will be moved to another spot after the work is completed.

“We have so far only given permission for soil testing. We have asked the contractors to provide the barricades, traffic wardens, signages and other equipment to ensure smooth flow of traffic. This will not cause much traffic jams as it will take up very little space on the road. It will cause trouble when the actual construction begins,” said Amit Kale, deputy commissioner (Traffic), Thane.

Meanwhile, barricades for the corridor, connecting Thane with Wadala, has already been put in Ghatkopar for soil testing. The corridor will later be extended till GPO in South Mumbai. Apart from Metro 4, Thane will also be connected by Metro 5 connecting Thane, Bhiwandi and Kalyan.

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