After a series of gaffes, Gokhale bridge, Barfiwala flyover to be merged by July 10

Mumbai: Work on connecting the north-side arm of the CD Barfiwala Flyover with the recently refurbished Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge in Andheri will be completed by mid-July, according to officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “It will take around 15 days to finish work on the bridge and another 12 days to open it to the public. All pending work will be completed by July 10,” said an official from BMC’s bridges department.

The bridges are being aligned at a cost of ₹8 crore, as per the recommendations of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, and the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI). The BMC had asked both institutes to prepare reports regarding the feasibility of connecting the two flyovers. In its report submitted on March 19, VJTI said the structures could be aligned by raising four spans, whereas the IIT, in its report submitted on April 8, said the bridges could be merged by raising only two spans.

Work on aligning the two flyovers was started with experts from IIT and VJTI. The BMC had aimed to complete the project within 90 days, hoping it could be thrown open to the public by the end of June or the first week of July, just around the start of the monsoon.

The CD Barfiwala Flyover, built in 2008, initially linked Juhu with the north-south arms of the old Gokhale Bridge, which was demolished in 2022. The refurbished Gokhale bridge, opened to the public on February 26 this year, was six meters higher than the earlier structure on account of railway tracks passing under it, causing misalignment with the Barfiwala flyover.

BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani had directed officials to work on connecting the north-side arm of Barfiwala flyover with the Gokhale bridge at Dahisar. A decision on connecting the south-side arm of the flyober with Gokhale bridge at Vile Parle is pending.