MARKING THE final step towards the launch of the Carnac bridge girders, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday morning concluded the complete shifting of the northern beam weighing 550 metric tonnes over to the railway section. The civic body is eyeing to open the bridge to traffic by June this year, with the BMC now set to launch works on the approach roads. A key east-west connector linking Masjid station in south Mumbai with P D Mello Road, the 154-year-old Carnac bridge was razed in a four-day operation in 2022, rendering it inaccessible for vehicular movement. It was following this that the BMC, along with the railways, launched the re-construction of the British-era bridge at a cost of over Rs 50 crore. Nearly two years after its demolition, the BMC in October last year launched the first girder of the bridge. Weighing 516 metric tonnes, this was the south-side of the connector over the railway portion. On Friday, meanwhile, the civic body completed the shifting of the beam over the railway section between 1.30 am and 4 am on Friday. Earlier on Sunday, the BMC had launched the shifting of the beam. However, the shift ran into technical challenges, leaving the beam being shifted to a distance of 12 metres only. With the final leg of the installation now nearing completion, the civic body has charted a schedule to commence works on the pile foundation of the eastern and the western approach roads, while also concreting and carrying out the load testing of the swath. Senior officials said that a target of June 2025 has been set to ensure that the bridge is opened to vehicular traffic ahead of monsoon.
