Weekend Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: Zipping down the Trans Harbour Link

Mumbai has just become less of an island. There’s a new and easy way to get in and out, and it’s called the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu. The official name of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link is as long as the bridge! In fact, at 21.8km, it’s the longest bridge of its kind in India, of which 16.5km is over water. Built with state-of-the-art construction technology, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) took an incredibly quick five years (including two years of Covid) to build the Atal Setu and realise a dream that goes back to 1962 when the idea of a bridge across Mumbai’s harbour was first mooted by Wilbur Smith and Associates, an American consultancy firm.