Commuters gear up for long jam sessions with the closure of Gokhale Bridge

Mumbai With the Gokhale Bridge in Andheri bout of bounds for vehicular traffic, likely from the following Monday, the Mumbai traffic police has issued an advisory asking citizens to plan their journeys in advance and also shared information on the alternate routes for travelling from west to east

Mumbai With the Gokhale Bridge in Andheri bout of bounds for vehicular traffic, likely from the following Monday, the Mumbai traffic police has issued an advisory asking citizens to plan their journeys in advance and also shared information on the alternate routes for travelling from west to east.

Commuters gear up for long jam sessions with the closure of Gokhale Bridge

Nitin Pawar, Deputy Commissioner for Traffic (Western Suburbs), said “We have advised the commuters to plan their journey well in advance, avoid peak hour travels if there is no emergency and follow our Twitter handle for regular traffic updates.”

The department has also chalked out four alternate routes, namely Milan Subway (Santacruz), Vile Parle flyover (south side of the Gokhale Bridge), Andheri subway and Jogeshwari flyover (north side of the Gokhale Bridge).

HT was the first to report on Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asking traffic department to shut Gokhale Bridge due to its poor condition. The report, submitted by SCG Consultancy Services, the firm that audits bridges in the western suburbs every six months, said the bridge developed structural cracks and the steel inside has also corroded.

The two nearest alternatives to Gokhale Bridge for commuting east to west is Vile Parle flyover and Andheri subway. But they come with their own set of problems. Vile Parle flyover is narrow with only two lanes. At the start of the flyover, going from west to east, it has a school and the area usually witnesses heavy jam. Meanwhile, Andheri subway and routes leading to subway are usually jammed. The subway is frequently shut for traffic during monsoon due to waterlogging.

“BMC did not give us enough time to plan this out. It is going to be a nightmare. The alternate routes are also usually jammed,” said a traffic official.

For Sana Lajporiya, a resident of Andheri west, chaos is beyond imagination. “I cannot even imagine the kind of traffic chaos and nightmare it is going to be. Sometimes I use Andheri subway where traffic is blocked till Amboli junction. While currently it takes at least 20 minutes to cross the subway, with the bridge shutting down, it is going to be 45 to 50 minutes of struggle.”

However, an official from the bridges department feels they will be on war-footing while repairing the bridge. “We will be able to speed up the work once the whole bridge is handed over to us. When work is done in phases, it takes a lot of time, but with bridge being completely shut, we will expedite the work. If the railways cooperate, we will try to open the bridge in one and half years.”

Juhu resident Suheil Merchant travels to his workplace in Andheri east using the Gokhale bridge. “Before the bridge collapse, it took me 15 minutes to reach my workplace. With bridge partially shut, my travel time increased to 30 minutes. With the bridge shutting down completely, it will take me at least 60 minutes of travel. My daughter’s school is close to the Vile Parle flyover, I cannot imagine the stress that children will have to go through because of traffic there.”

(Additional inputs, Megha Sood)