Shifting of Gokhale bridge girder is complete; progress on course

The remaining 800mm was completed after extra precautionary measures were taken on Wednesday. Only the lowering of the girder, by 7.5 meters, is left, said an official from the bridges department of BMC. With this development, the work on Gokhale bridge is on track and ready to be opened one-way by February 15

Mumbai: Within three weeks of its launch, the shifting of the first girder of the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, a key Andheri east-west connector, was undertaken in the intervening night of December 19 and 20. The girder was launched on December 3 and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials confirmed the slewing of the girder by 14 metres.

Shifting of Gokhale bridge girder is complete; progress on course

Slewing of the girder refers to the mechanism by which the superstructure of a bridge is slided from one end to ensure the two ends which the bridge is supposed to join gets connected.

The open web girder (OWG) of the Gokhale bridge was launched on December 3 following which it was slewed towards the western side to connect the entire east-west stretch.

The remaining 800mm was completed after extra precautionary measures were taken on Wednesday. Only the lowering of the girder, by 7.5 meters, is left, said an official from the bridges department of BMC. With this development, the work on Gokhale bridge is on track and ready to be opened one-way by February 15.

The railways had imposed a traffic and power block on the Harbour Line from Monday from the night of December 17, which continued till the night of December 18 and 19. The first girder was launched on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, with a goal to be complete by December end. As the lowering of the girder is a risky task, it will be done in consultation with RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service).

The Western Railway has sanctioned a block period of 11 days to bring down the bridge from a height of 7.5 metres in the railway premises. With the special block, it will be possible for them to lower the girder by an average of 550mm in three hours every night. Lowering a girder to this height for a bridge is the first ever instance in this country, said chief engineer (bridges) Vivek Kalyankar.