For two years, travelling from Andheri east to west will be a nightmare

Work on the new Telli Galli flyover has started. Pic/Rane Ashish

For the next two years, travelling from Andheri East to Andheri West is going to be a nightmare. The BMC bridges' department has begun work on the Telli Galli flyover, to bypass the Telli Galli signal, and connect directly to the Gokhale bridge.

On the same stretch, the pedestrian portion of the Gokhale bridge is undergoing repairs by the Railways. The BMC also plans to undertake reconstruction of Gokhale bridge as it is in a dilapidated condition. All this is happening on the same road that connects the Western Express Highway (WEH) to SV Road.

The BMC has finally begun work on the new flyover, which was planned four years ago and approved three years ago. Instead of delaying it by a few months, the BMC started the construction, clashing with the bridge reconstruction that the Railways is doing.

Last year, the pedestrian stairs leading up to Gokhale bridge had collapsed due to heavy rains, and the Railways had been rebuilding it on war-footing since. While the BMC was aware of the repair work, it chose not to wait for its completion.

With the Telli Galli flyover, the BMC wants to reduce the bottlenecks at the Regency Hotel and the Telli Galli junctions. All of this is in addition to the major repairs that the deteriorating Gokhale bridge needs. According to civic officials, the bridge needs to be demolished in a proper way. The Gokhale bridge's reconstruction will take another 1.5 years to start, and then it will clash with the completion of the Telli Galli flyover.

The travel time to reach WEH from SV Road is 20 minutes to cover a distance of about 2 km currently. A regular commuter, Hitendra P, said, "Because of the Railways work, the road is already narrow. To battle that, we have to drive in a zig-zag direction to reach the WEH.

I don't understand why BMC plans things in such a way, where all the work happens at once. When they know the Railways work is on, they could have easily waited for a few months, instead of troubling us."

A senior civic official, not willing to be named, said, "We have been trying for traffic permissions for a long time and received them only late last year. We had to start now or else the project would be delayed even more. And for the Gokhale Bridge reconstruction, tenders are still being drafted. But, for now, we are planning to add support to strengthen the bridge's sub-structure." Chief engineer Sanjay Darade was unavailable for comment.

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