Seven ways Thane changed when you WFH the past eighteen months
Some parts of Thane now have a new look apart from a surprise new addition
In the past nineteen months, most Rustomjee Urbania residents would have spent time at home studying or working from home. Though lockdown restrictions allowed travel for some months in 2020 and 2021, most Urbanians have stayed home without knowing the changes at Thane. Here are seven changes you will notice when you go around Thane now, including one surprise new addition that gives our city a Goa-like feature. Read on.
Talaopali and Upvan lake makeover: The showpiece of the Talaopali now is the float-glass walkway from which you can see the lake’s waters while at the periphery. Combined with colorful lighting, the transparent path along Shivaji Path is a new Thane attraction that the city residents can proudly show out-of-towners. However, the glass path is slippery in the rains, and you should not walk on it during the monsoon when it is wet.
TMC has also made other changes to the Talaopali lake periphery. You can now sit on the amphitheater-style seating in front of St. Peter’s Church or walk on the granite pathway all around the lake. Along Shivaji Path, TMC has planted the attractive Barringontia trees that you find at some places in Thane (like Saket) and along Mumbai’s Marine Drive.
Heeding wildlife activists, TMC has stopped public feeding seagulls with fried snacks, and you no longer find seagulls at the Upvan Lake like you would till 2020.
At Upvan lake, TMC is reinstalling the footpath along the road. If you walk around Upvan Lake, you find the concrete path does not complete for circumambulation, and TMC should make a walking path around the entire circumference.
Upvan Lake is still Thane’s popular recreation spot, and you now find numerous cricket nets on the ground near it.
On Sundays, you find many cricketers playing the game on the ground.
Welcome arches no more: You may not have ever noticed the stone tile welcome arches to Thane at the Thane’s three entry points. TMC commissioned three stone tile arches in s in 1984, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Pravesh Dwar on LBS Marg, the Anand Dighe Pravesh Dwar on the Eastern Express Highway at Anandnagar, and the TMC entry gate on the Thane-Belapur Highway at Vitawa.
TMC had used netting below the arches to prevent stone and plaster from dropping below and decided to dismantle the arches in 2019. The lockdowns and reduced road traffic in 2020 gave a good opportunity for TMC to demolish three thirty-five-year arches at the city’s entry points. Fearing their collapse after loose sections started falling from the above arches, TMC has removed the whole structure at all three locations leaving no trace of their thirty-six-year presence.
FASTag tolls: The Mulund tolls one EEH and LBS Marg finally automatically detects and deducts the toll from your vehicles’ FASTag! Your toll card may be a FASTag, but the pass-through toll is anything but fast!
Whichever lane you drive through, there are people at the automatic toll collection who now let you navigate through without stopping your vehicle. However, drivers without FASTag on their cars still use the FASTag only lane and hold up traffic behind them as they pay cash for the toll.
The Kopri bridge’s four additional lanes: When Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis flagged off this project in May 2018, he said the first phase of the project would be over by December 2019. That phase was the construction of the four new lanes, which were ready by July 2021.
The contractor working on the Kopri bridge expansion has completed the two new elevated lanes in each direction, showing what awaits motorists traveling this stretch. The traffic police will next divert traffic to the new sections to let the contractor start work on the original bridge and remake it as part of the Kopri bridge makeover.
This Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) project started after a long delay is progressing slowly. With lesser traffic during lockdown months of 2020 and 2021, you would expect that the construction pace would be higher, but it was not to be.
Our wait for a smoother crossing at the Kopri bridge will have to wait till 2023. Before that, the traffic police will divert vehicles in both directions at Kopri onto the new lanes as the contractor dismantles the old bridge and replaces it with a new one. Originally, MMRDA was to complete the entire project by the end of 2021, but they will ensure it only by a one-year delay.
Concrete roads: Driving around Thane, you now find new concrete roads which TMC commissioned in the past seventeen months. The Kalwa-Saket-Balkum road, the Kolshet Road, Sri Rang, and Brindavan society roads are some of the new concrete roads for smoother rides than those you experienced before 2020. TMC is continuing its road concretizing in 2021, and you can expect to travel in better comfort on Thane roads after this year.
Kalwa gets a second creek bridge: Standing at the Azziano podium and from Aurelia, you can now see the red steel bridge over Thane Creek from Saket to Kalwa. This complex project is progressing slowly and is likely to be ready in another year.
I had earlier apprehended that the new Kalwa bridge would make travel seamless in all directions on the Saket side but not at Kalwa. The project will transfer the traffic congestion at the landing of the bridge on the Thane Belapur road. Apprehending the same, many elected representatives have asked for an extension of the new Kalwa bridge to a point further than where it shall land after the project gets over.
A cruise boat on the Thane Creek: Visiting Thane’s Chowpatty at Gaimukh in July 2021, I found it had a large boat that offered Goan style river cruise with food, music, and an excursion on water. Lockdown restrictions did not allow entry to the Gaimukh riverfront development through which you can board the cruise boat. But you can now take a cruise-like boat trip on Thane Creek, not too far from Rustomjee Urbania.
The Cruise (C is a play on the word creek as we are far from the sea at Thane but have the Thane Creek to substitute) had allowed free entry in July for few days. The cruise vessel now allows work (yes!) on board for a thousand-rupee cover charge that gives a 15% discount on food and has free Wi-Fi access. You can cruise around Thane Creek for seven hundred fifty rupees an hour from 2 to 4 pm on Friday afternoons. If you are game, Cruise lets you book their boat for your party!
https://www.theccruise.com/
I hope you enjoyed reading this issue, Times of Urbania, a community newsletter since March 2019. Would you please leave a comment below?
Very interesting information. Thanks Mr.Giridhar for always sharing something important
Very interesting information. Thanks Mr.Giridhar for always sharing something important