Hope Andheri bridge fracas was a lesson to BMC

A structural audit of the Gokhale bridge was ordered in October. Pic/Sameer Markande

It is bridges and bottlenecks for Mumbai. This paper has featured the chaos and travel time that has ensued since one of the Andheri east-west connectors, Gokhale bridge, has been closed.

Now, the BMC seems to be in a race against time. The Railways is planning to demolish a dilapidated Ghatkopar east-west bridge, which is 45 years old, but the next best option for commuters looking to cross sides, Vikhroli road bridge, is only 40 per cent complete, said a report in this paper.

The construction of the Vikhroli bridge began in 2018, but locals claim work is moving slowly. The Ghatkopar structure is dilapidated and is on the list of bridges to be rebuilt.

Now, authorities will need to plan well and see that the option of the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, which anyway sees traffic jams, is somehow relatively a little less packed as people will use that connector. Locals have pointed to another bridge on Mahatma Gandhi Road to travel from Ghatkopar East to West. Yet, they highlight that this is a single-lane bridge.

The problem also throws the spotlight on how delays in tackling infra repairs or building facilities have a cascading effect on an entire system. These delays may be due to a myriad of reasons - from files not moving, to bureaucratic wrangles, technical problems or others. Yet, in a city where space is such a challenge, delays magnify obstacles and cost escalation of very many projects; it is a given.

Even if COVID did throw things out of gear, skeletal workers could at least have got some things moving when it came to the Vikhroli bridge.

The Vikhroli bridge was in fact going to be completed by 2020. Now, it looks like May 2023. One hopes that some lessons are learnt from the Andheri fracas and we do not see large-scale traffic jams, frustration and, as a result, road rage as another bridge is going to be closed.