Mumbai: All dressed up, nowhere to go

The ready flyover from the Western Express Highway side landing at the soon-to-be-demolished Gokhale Bridge. Pics/Nimesh Dave

Four years after a footpath of the Gokhale Road bridge collapsed on a running train, shutting it down partially, the BMC announced that the structure of the bridge was dangerous and it needed to be demolished as per the structural audit report. The process of shutting down the Andheri bridge will begin next week. In a gross example of poor planning, two new connecting bridges which are ready to be opened on either side of the bridge as approaches, have now been rendered useless. When mid-day visited the site on Thursday, we saw the two new connecting bridges on either side of the Gokhale Road bridge built as approaches rendered useless now, since the main east-west bridge is to be shut.

The ready Barfiwala flyover from Juhu side, which also lands at the dilapidated bridge

"This is a perfect example of misplanning. Two years after part of it collapsed, the BMC continued road traffic over it, risking the lives of motorists and pedestrians. After four years, they have declared the bridge dangerous with need to bring it down urgently. Meanwhile, they worked on building state-of-the-art approaches to the dilapidated bridge. What kind of governance is this?" said Harsha Shah, a local resident. The Teli gully approach (from the East) at 570 metres cost R80 crore to construct while the Barfiwala approach (from the West) of 350 metres cost Rs 42.5 crore.

Also Read: Mumbai: Andheri's Gokhale bridge dilapidated, to be shut soon

Current status

Presently only two lanes of the bridge are functional and work on the new lanes, except on the railway portion, is on but at a very slow pace. But even though just two lanes are functional, it is helpful to residents as this is a key east-west connector.

The work of reconstruction of the existing Gokhale Bridge at Andheri (Municipal Portion) is in progress by the appointed contractual agency M/s SMS Limited. At present half of the bridge towards the north side is demolished and construction of the same is in progress (Phase-I).

What caused delay?

After part of the Gokhale Bridge collapsed in July 2018, killing two and injuring three, it was shut with assurance that it would be rebuilt. Work started in 2020 and some pillars are already in place. As far as the work over railway tracks was concerned, the Western Railway demanded that the BMC have the design plan of the portion of the bridge over the railway tracks approved by IIT-Bombay as per their regulations. The audit report is ready, but the BMC audit department is yet to clear IIT's fees.

The now useless approaches to the Gokhale Road bridge. Pic/Nimesh Dave

BMC Speak

BMC officials had assured, "We will soon pay the advance fees for approval to IIT-Bombay. Once the plan is approved by the institute, it will go to the railways for the nod, following which it will need at least three years to complete the project."

Railways's version

"The first meeting was held in 2021 for discussions after which the drawings of the bridge were ready, approved and finalised in a year's time. Once the drawings were ready in August 2022, we asked the BMC to get it endorsed from IIT-Bombay as per existing railway regulations. We are waiting for the IIT report. In November, we have sent another reminder to the BMC about it," WR Chief Public Relations Officer Sumit Thakur said.

Local MLA intervenes

Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam along with civic officials and consultants visited the bridge on Tuesday. He had written a letter to the municipal commissioner I S Chahal in which he said, "The existing Gokhale Bridge is in dangerous condition and unsafe. So, to avoid any mishap it should be immediately closed down. Since the railway line is running below the bridge it makes the situation even worse."

Inputs from Sameer Surve

Rs 80 cr
Cost of constructing the approach from the East

Rs 42.5 cr
Cost of constructing the approach from the West

Two
No of people killed when part of the bridge collapsed in 2018

2018
Year a part of Gokhale Road bridge collapsed, killing two people

Apr '22
Deadline for bridge work to end; work had not even started then

448
Total no of bridges in Mumbai

183
No of city bridges that can be salvaged

340
No of bridges already audited for safety

54
No of city bridges that need full reconstruction