Mumbai: Princess street flyover to reopen for traffic on Monday

The Princess Street flyover at Marine lines station which was partially closed for repairs will now completely reopen for traffic on Monday. This is the first time the five decades-old flyover is undergoing repair work in its expansion joints. The cost of the project is Rs 60 lakhs.

The iconic flyover which overlooks Marine drive was constructed 50 years ago and has 36 expansion joints. Expansion joints are the ones which take care of the contraction and expansion of a bridge owing to changing seasons.

Since its inception, the flyover's joints had not been repaired and therefore, the BMC had proposed last year to undertake the work. However, since the civic body could not acquire the required permissions before monsoon, work got postponed. The work of resurfacing the road on the flyover was undertaken last year itself.

This year, the BMC undertook repairs on the 36 expansion joints on May 18 with an objective to finish work before May 31 considering the impending monsoon. This meant that half the lane on both sides of the flyover was shut for traffic and a left-ward turn towards G Road - completely shut for traffic. These roads will be open now.

"The repair work is over and ‘curing' is going in, which means we are leaving the cement-concrete to settle before traffic is allowed on the flyover," said S O Kori, chief engineer, bridges department.

The project was carried out in two phases- between May 18 and 24 and between May 25 and 31. The two phases ensured that the road was shut for traffic in two phases.