No demolition, raise flyover instead, says VJTI report

MUMBAI: The Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) submitted a report to the BMC on Wednesday, proposing solutions to the height disparity between Gokhale Bridge and Barfiwala Flyover. The institute said that instead of demolishing the flyover, its slabs could be raised, using jacks and a specialised engineering technique, to align it with Gokhale Bridge which was partially opened on February 26.

After the bridge, a key Andheri east-west connector, was thrown open, Barfiwala Flyover, an important connector to Gokhale Bridge from Juhu, was announced as out of bounds due to a height difference of 2.8 metres between the two bridges. After a controversy erupted, the BMC appointed VJTI to recommend solutions to the problem.

A civic official confirmed that the VJTI report had deemed Barfiwala Flyover to be in good condition and said it should not be torn down. “VJTI has proposed a method to elevate the flyover slabs, using jacks to align them with Gokhale Bridge,” he said. “The columns will be raised from below by a pedestal. Once completed, the asphalt road work will commence. The estimated timeframe for this project is three months from the issuance of the work order, and will be at an estimated cost of ₹3 crore. This undertaking requires highly specialised expertise.” Five agencies with prior experience in lifting slabs have been recommended for the job.

The newly opened portion of Gokhale Bridge has benefited 70-80% of commuters. “Once Barfiwala Flyover is rectified, commuters from Lokhandwala and Andheri West won’t need to cross S V Road,” said the civic official. “They can use the flyover instead, saving them 10 minutes of waiting time.”

BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, during the Gokhale Bridge inauguration on February 26, had announced that VJTI’s report would arrive in two weeks. On March 7, the BMC’s chief engineer for bridges wrote a letter to the institute, asking it to expedite its work on finding a solution to the different heights of the two bridges. The letter urged VJTI to provide the “quickest”, “non-breaking” and most “implementable” solution possible in its report.

Responding to social media criticism lanced at it for the failed connection between Gokhale Bridge and Barfiwala Flyover, the BMC had taken the stance that it never intended to connect the two flyovers in the first phase of reconstruction due to the height difference and safety concerns. In its clarification, it had stated that the slope of the new Gokhale Bridge arm and the slope of the north-bound Barfiwala Flyover were in opposite directions and joining them would lead to accidents. It added that if it had to work on modifying Barfiwala Flyover to connect with Gokhale Bridge, it would have to utilise space on S V Road and Barfiwala Road (which connects Juhu with S V Road), which would have created “traffic havoc”, and hence it had decided to take up the work in Phase II.

HT was the first to report on the height difference between the two flyovers owing to the increased height requirement by the railways for Gokhale Bridge and the missing drawings of Barfiwala Flyover.