‘Gokhale Bridge will definitely not open this year’

Mumbai: Even as Andheri residents await the reopening of Gokhale Bridge while petitioning local representatives to ensure that the task is expedited, sources in the BMC have said that it will not be possible to open even a single lane of the bridge till May 2024. Gokhale Bridge is a key Andheri east-west connector which was partially shut in 2018 and fully shut in November 2022.

When the bridge was closed last year, elected representatives had promised that one lane would open by May 2023. Less than a month ago, chief minister Eknath Shinde, on a visit to the site, had said that he had spoken to the steel company supplier and also called up the divisional railway manager. “We will expedite this work,” he had said. “One lane (for to and fro traffic) of the bridge will open before Diwali this year.”

However, a BMC official privy to the work, told HT that it would be “a world record” if even one lane of the bridge was opened in December 2023. “The fabrication of girders is a complex task,” he said. “Irrespective of the pressure from the public, it will take time.”

The official added that only around 950 metric tonnes of fabrication material had been sourced so far. “It will take at least two months for the fabrication, following which we will have to do a trial assembly,” he said. “After that, it will be examined by the railways. If there is even a slight issue, it will have to be re-done.”

According to the official, the approach road of one lane was ready. “To push the girders, a temporary set-up will be erected on the second lane because the pillars/new approaches cannot hold the weight of the girders,” he said. “Once the girder is pushed on the railway portion, it will be horizontally pushed on the first lane, and it is only after this that the first lane can be opened. The second girder will then be pushed, following which the second one can be built.”

The official also explained that support from the railways was crucial. “Fitting the girders on the railway portion of the land needs approval from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation and the Railway Safety Board,” he said. “The time frame of approvals from them will be crucial for the early opening of the bridge.”

HT reached out to P Velrasu, additional commissioner (projects), who did not respond despite multiple requests for clarification on the delay.

The CAG report on Gokhale Bridge this year had said that demolition and reconstruction of the bridge was delayed by almost four years. “Audit observed that even after the serious incident of collapse of a part of the bridge in July 2018… the BMC did not plan for the reconstruction of the bridge in a timely manner,” stated the report. “Instead, Western Railway, with the concurrence of the BMC, carried out heavy repair works… from October 2018 to February 2020. The BMC should have planned for the reconstruction of the bridge immediately, following the recommendations of the structural auditor.”

The report added that the approach road demolition and reconstruction was started in April 2020 while the demolition work of the railway portion of the bridge started in November 2022 and reconstruction work started in January 2023. “The bridge was completely closed for public use from November 7, 2022,” it said. “Thus, the demolition and reconstruction work of the bridge was delayed by almost four years.”