One arm of Gokhale Bridge open to traffic from today for light vehicles

MUMBAI: The BMC on Monday opened one arm of Gopalkrishna Gokhale Bridge, the key Andheri east-west connector that was closed for reconstruction 15 months ago. Commuters will be able to use the bridge starting Tuesday morning but only light vehicular traffic will be permitted as of now on account of height restrictions.

Along with Gokhale Bridge, the BMC also inaugurated the grade separator at Teli Gully in Andheri East. This new flyover will help vehicles from Gokhale Bridge connect to the Western Express Highway in Andheri East.

The bridge was inaugurated by Mumbai’s guardian minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha along with BMC chief Iqbal Chahal, local MLAs and Andheri citizens. The newly inaugurated arm of the bridge will allow vehicular traffic in both east and west directions with a height restriction of 2.5 metres. The restriction, although temporary, will remain till the launch of the second girder in the railway portion of the bridge. Chahal said the second arm of the bridge would also be thrown open to the public by year-end.

While one arm of the Gokhale Bridge opens, the Juhu connector to Gokhale Bridge called Barfiwala Flyover will remain inaccessible. HT on Saturday had reported on the height difference between the two, leading to Barfiwala Flyover being out of bounds. The height difference is due to the railways’ requirement of increased height over the tracks. The BMC had said that it was in the process of appointing VJTI and IIT Bombay as consultants to figure out a solution.

Chahal on Monday said that reports from both IIT and VJTI would be in within the next 15 days. “We do not want to demolish the flyover,” he said. “We just have to build a ramp connecting these two bridges. Once the reports come in, we will know the exact timeline for building the ramp but it will happen before the year-end, along with the reopening of the second arm of Gokhale Bridge.”

Dhaval Shah, founder of the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens’ Association, said that the reopening of Gokhale Bridge would bring a tremendous amount of relief to overburdened residents. “The second arm of the bridge and the Barfiwala Flyover connection needs to be completed on a war footing and finished by Dusshera to mitigate traffic woes and cut down travel time,” he said. “Critical infrastructure projects need to be dealt with on top priority.”

Citizens of Andheri, Vile Parle and Juhu, who had formed an action group on WhatsApp, were also praised by Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam during the inauguration. “I want to thank the members of the ‘Gokhale Bridge ASAP’ WhatsApp group,” he said. “They kept up the public pressure on us and I kept up the pressure on the BMC to ensure speedy construction.”

A part of Gokhale Bridge collapsed in 2018, killing two people. The bridge is a key connector between Andheri East and Andheri West and is one of the busiest routes in the suburb. It was kept partially open after the collapse while the BMC worked on rebuilding it in phases. In September 2022, it was declared unsafe during a routine audit and was completely shut from November 7, 2022.