Gokhale bridge: Two lanes to be opened within six months of commencement of repair work, say officials

The tenders for the bridge will be floated by mid-December, civic officials said.

“The tenders will be floated after design validation by IIT and final approval from the Railways. The deadline for the overall project is 18 months and to ease traffic movement, two lanes will be opened on the bridge before next monsoon, which will be approximately six months from the day of commencement of the works,” said Velrasu.

At present, the work for demolition and construction of this bridge, which falls under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) jurisdiction, is being carried out.

On July 3, 2018, a portion of this bridge had collapsed, claiming the life of one person and injuring two more.

Earlier this week, on November 1, the BMC had written to the traffic department of the Mumbai Police asking them to shut the bridge for vehicular movement after an audit found that its girders and columns had been degraded due to corrosion and environment degradation.

‘Metro prepared to handle increased footfall’

Meanwhile, with the shutting down of Gokhale bridge expected to increase Metro ridership, authorities are taking steps in the regard. “Mumbai Metro One is prepared to accommodate additional commuters due to the closure of Gokhale bridge. We anticipate the ridership to increase by around 20,000 per day. We will keep a train on standby and will scale up services depending on increase in footfall at the stations. We had successfully accommodated additional commuters when the bridge was closed in July 2018 too,” the spokesperson for Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) said.