Mumbai’s Newly-opened Gokhale Bridge Misaligned, BMC Shifts Blame on Railways

The new bridge is only open to Light Motor Vehicles and newly-inaugurated phase has two lanes that allows traffic movement from both sides. The girder for the second phase of the bridge is yet to be launched. (Image via X: @Sahilinfra2)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was recently at the face of major criticism after a misalignment was witnessed between the CD Barfiwala flyover and the newly constructed Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai’s Andheri.

A phase of the bridge was inaugurated on Monday evening and the BMC has passed on the blame, in connection to the mishap, to the Railways.

The commissioner of Mumbai’s civic body. I S Chahal at the inauguration that according to specifications given by the Railways, the height of the newly built Gokhale bridge needed to be increased by 1.5 metres.

In a conversation with Times of India, Chahal said, “Owing to this, the Barfiwala flyover went below the old Gokhale bridge. However, we have got reputed institutions such as VJTI and IIT to look into the issue and, if needed, we may also consider placing a ramp to allow smooth flow of traffic from the Barfiwala flyover to Gokhale.”

The Barfiwala flyover witnesses traffic from areas like Juhu directly onto Gokhale Bridge without the commuters having to cross the congested SV Road below it, a TOI report stated.

Local Andheri MLA Ameet Satam, in support of commissioner Chahal said that BMC cannot be made an object of ridicule always, and one should know that the civic body is working in the best interest of the city. He said, “The policy of the Railways changed and it was therefore needed to increase the height of the new Gokhale Bridge.”

Chahal also thanked Satam for continuously following up on the reconstruction of the bridge which ensured that it could become the fastest executed bridge in BMC. The first phase of the Gokhale bridge was completed within 14 months and the entire bridge has been promised to be made ready by the end of this year.

The new bridge is only open to Light Motor Vehicles and newly-inaugurated phase has two lanes that allows traffic movement from both sides. The girder for the second phase of the bridge is yet to be launched.

In connection to the latest incident, filmmaker and Juhu-resident Ashoke Pandit told TOI, “This is harassment for a common man and motorists and also a waste of taxpayers’ money. I think such work should be handed over to the army; they would get the works done faster.”

However, many local activists are angry over this misalignment and have said that issue should have been noticed by officials who were supervising the works at the construction stage itself and not now when the bridge has been opened for the public