Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road at night

MUMBAI: The 3.45km long Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) was finally thrown open to motorists on Friday morning.The Rs 450 crore SCLR project offers faster connectivity between Western Express Highway and Eastern Express Highway (EEH). The SCLR comprises 1.8km long double-decker flyover above the Central Railway's main line and Harbour line tracks. It has access to Kurla (W), Kurla (E), Tilak Nagar, Amar Mahal and Eastern Express Highway.The flyover had a soft opening as official function is not allowed due to code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections.BKC commuter Shyam Pandya said, "It took me hardly 10 minutes to travel from Ghatkopar to CST road in Kurla (W)."The traffic on the SCLR was skeletal as most of them are unaware about its opening.Cletus D'souza, a resident of Kurla, said, "I came to know about its opening only today morning after I read about it in newspaper."Though the flyover is fit to use, commuters complained of dust.Santosh Chavan, a biker said, "The road has not been properly swept because of which there is too much dust, affecting visibility near Tilak Nagar-end of SCLR."The SCLR missed 12 deadlines, the last on March 31, since construction began in 2006 (the project was planned in 2002). The delays were due to reasons like not getting permission from the railways to build the double-decker flyover, and the rehabilitation of more than 3,500 families in Gazi Nagar, Buddha Colony, Sable Nagar, Rahul Nagar and Indira Colony, and of commercial units in Kurla and Chembur. The delays resulted in the cost of the project to escalate from Rs 115 crore to Rs 450 crore.An MMRDA official said, "The SCLR was part of the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport-I project aimed at improving rail and road infrastructure in Mumbai. Mumbai has always had an excellent rail transport network, which offers linear connectivity between the suburbs and the island city. But east-west connectivity has always been poor."