Vehicles on Gokhale Bridge-Barfiwala flyover connector leave commuters in a tizzy as BMC defers launch to Thursday

Maintaining that the flyover is yet to be opened for vehicles, civic officials said some miscreants had removed the barricade and commenced unauthorised usage of the Barfiwala flyover, leading to confusion among commuters.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (projects) said the BMC has now directed the deputy municipal commissioner of the concerned department to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

On Monday, the BMC announced that the bridge would be opened for vehicular movement of light vehicles from Thursday evening. However, visuals of vehicles plying on the ‘opened’ connector between Gokhale bridge and the CD Barfiwala flyover started doing the rounds on social media on Monday morning. Commuters were left puzzled as the bridge was once again barricaded and shut for operations in less than two hours.

According to civic officials, some miscreants removed the barricades, which had been installed on the Juhu side, leading to unauthorised movement on the bridge. “When the incident came to light, we put back the barricades again and shut the bridge within an hour’s time. The connector is yet to be launched since we are finishing some final works,” said an official.

Meanwhile, announcing its decision to open the bridge after 5pm on Thursday, the BMC, which is currently completing the final lap of pending works, said the only light vehicles will be permitted to access the structure, owing to the ongoing work on the second phase. In a bid to prevent heavy vehicles from plying, height barriers have been installed on the bridge.

The BMC decision to launch the connector and the bridge comes along the heels of the VJTI’s stamp of approval, which following a load test on Sunday night, issued a ‘no objection certificate’ to the civic body, stating that the quality of work on the merging was found to be satisfactory.

Issuing the approval, VJTI, which had been roped in to undertake the merging of the two bridges, said, “The structure after being thoroughly inspected and after carrying out all required tests along with load test is found to be in structurally safe and sound condition. The bridge is safe for its intended use and can be opened for vehicular traffic.”

Having completed the work of conjoining the two bridges in a time frame of 78 days, the BMC is slated to complete ancillary work and tests pertaining to traffic management over the course of next two days, before the bridge is flung open to traffic.

It was in April this year that the work on the alignment of the two structures commenced, with civic officials stating that hydraulic jacks were used to lift two spans of girders that were required for merging the alignment of the two super structures. The spans were lifted by 1,397 mm and 650mm each. Besides this, the BMC has also installed six new bearings in the structure.