Delayed again: Gokhale Bridge to fully reopen on May 2024

Mumbai: The commitment to reopen Gokhale Bridge, a key east-west connector of the Andheri suburbs, by November has gone for a toss as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that it will reopen the bridge in two parts

Mumbai: The commitment to reopen Gokhale Bridge, a key east-west connector of the Andheri suburbs, by November has gone for a toss as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that it will reopen the bridge in two parts. One lane of the bridge will be open to the public by October and the other lane by May 2024.

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Gokhale Bridge, which was shut on November 7, 2022, led to a huge public outcry, following which the BMC said it will open two lanes of the bridge before monsoons 2023. This commitment was not kept as Andheri MLA Ameet Satam said that the bridge can only get ready by November 2023 since the steel supply for the girders was disrupted.

Now, a revised announcement date of the reopening was made after chief minister Eknath Shinde visited the Gokhale Bridge site requesting to expedite the work. During his visit to the site, Shinde said, “I have spoken to the steel company supplier and have also called up the DRM (divisional railway manager), Mumbai on this issue and we will expedite this work.”

Iqbal Chahal, BMC commissioner and administrator, said, “The approach roads for the bridge are ready and can be opened anytime, but the specifications for girders that need to be placed on the railway portion are such that only two companies in India supply it. There was a three-month delay in the supply from one of the plants which led to further delays. Now the supply has started so the work will happen soon.”

Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam, who was also at the Gokhale Bridge site along with Shinde and Chahal said that “The total requirement of steel for the railway portion is 2600 MT out of which 750MT is received and 1200 MT will be received by May end. Fabrication work will start and the remaining steel will be received by July. “ he said adding, “The fabrication will continue on-site and launching of girders by push method will be done in October this year and thereafter concreting. The target is to complete one lane by October end.” he added.

Shinde also announced that he has asked the railways to keep the last bridge at Andheri railway station (south side) to be open to the public for pedestrians to cross from east to west.

Dhaval Shah, founder of Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen’s Association said, “Now, we are looking at a delay of another seven months. Considering the amount of fuel, energy and money lost in the jams, this is not going in the right direction. We were told it was November but now it’s again pushed to May.”