Brace for traffic snarls in Mumbai, Amar Mahal flyover repairs to take nine months, not four

Mumbai city news: For you, this means many more months of traffic snarls on the arterial highway that connects the suburbs to the city.

Repairs on the Amar Mahal flyover on the Eastern Express Highway is likely to take nine months, and not four as promised earlier.

The government has decided to replace the steel superstructure of the 230-metre flyover, after an expert committee declared it ‘unreliable’. (HT File Photo)

For you, this means many more months of traffic snarls on the arterial highway that connects the suburbs to the city.

The government has decided to replace the steel superstructure of the 230-metre flyover, after an expert committee declared it ‘unreliable’.

The superstructure is the part between the pillars and the deck of a flyover. In the case of the Amar Mahal flyover, the superstructure is made of steel, but because of excess load over the years, its joints have been damaged, officials said. The repair work will be completed in two phases — northbound stretch towards Thane in the first phase and the southbound one towards Mumbai after that.

READ: Brace for traffic snarls in Mumbai, Amar Mahal flyover repairs to take four months

The northbound carriageway of the flyover has been shut for traffic since April 8, after two of its joints were found damaged. The government formed an expert committee to find the causes and submit a report. The committee, headed by Dr Ravi Sinha, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), found five of the ten joints were damaged, sources said.

“The PWD called for tenders for repairs and got three bidders — NCC Limited, J Kumar Infraprojects and Larsen and Toubro (L&T). On May 16, all three qualified for the technical bid, but in the financial bid opened today (May 19), NCC Limited emerged as the lowest bidder,” said a senior official. NCC quoted Rs 61.5 crore, J Kumar Rs66 crore while L&T quoted Rs89 crore, the official said.

Initially, the PWD had planned to replace only a 60m stretch of the superstructure. “We can’t risk lives of commuters. This delay is better than an unfortunate incident,” the official said.