Booster shot for three sick south Mumbai bridges

AMID an outpour of scorn for the BMC over the closure of the Gokhale bridge in Andheri authorities have pulled three overpasses out of the cityrsquos list of ldquodangerous bridgesrdquo Officials said the lifespan of the Chinchpokli bridge S bridge at Byculla and Olivant bridge at Mazgaon has increased as the structures have been strengthened and may not need to be demolished and rebuilt immediatelyThis also means Ganpati devotees might get some relaxation on the Chinchpokli bridge which is used by most big mandals during idol immersion processions unlike in the past over safety concernsldquoThough there will be no restriction on vehicular weight there may be a restriction on the number of people standing on the bridge Rolling and static weights are two different things A heavy lorry can ply on the bridge but thousands of people standing and dancing on even the lsquosafersquo bridge may cause damage so the decision of allowing people on the bridge should be taken cautiouslyrdquo said a senior official from the BMCThese bridges needed urgent attention as per an IITBombay report in 2019 and were considered for reconstruction by the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited MRIDCL The Central Railway has informed the civic body that the bridges have been fortified A recent audit by the BMC also showed that the overpasses are in sound healthThe eastwest S bridge at Byculla in March 2015 PicRane AshishThe Chinchpokli bridge along with at least 12 other bridges on rail lines was on the list of concerns after the audit was carried out by IIT Bombay The audit was undertaken after the footpath portion of the Gokhale bridge collapsed in 2018 After the IIT audit the Delisle bridge near Lower Parel station was closed immediately and is now in the final stage of reconstruction Since the audit there were many restrictions including speed and weight on the movement of traffic on the bridgesldquoThe bridges were supposed to be taken for reconstruction one after another in a planned process But parallelly Central Railway has begun strengthening work on the bridges during the past three years and now three bridgesmdashArthur Road at Chinchpokli S Bridge at Byculla and Olivant bridge at Mazgaonmdashare in a safer condition than earlier and may not require immediate demolition and rebuilding We have informed the BMC about thisrdquo a top CR official saidAlso Read Gokhale road bridge fiasco Railways calls out BMCConfirming the development a BMC official said ldquoWe received a letter from the railways stating these three bridges are in a safe condition and need not require urgent demolitionrdquo An official from BMCrsquos bridges department said ldquoIIT had recommended several measures including offloading which we have carried out and we can say the approaches of the bridges are now in a safer conditionrdquoldquoThe bridges needed urgent attention as most of the bridges were in dilapidated condition After the report we reconstructed FOBs pedestrian portions of the Tilak bridge at Dadar and Andherirsquos Gokhale bridge Even the Gokhale bridge has been strengthened and does not require urgent demolition on the railway portion Only its approaches are in a dangerous conditionrdquo said the rail officialMRIDC officials said they are working on eastwest bridges at Reay Road Byculla Dadar and Turbhe While the Reay Road bridge has been demolished Byculla and Dadar bridges will be pulled down once the new bridges are constructed On its part the BMC has started work on the Hancock bridge Carnac bridge Lower Parel bridge and now the Gokhale bridgeCut the flab IIT reportThe IIT had surveyed 445 bridges and found excess weight on them and recommended offloading also Offloading is a process to scrape off the excess layers of asphalt and concrete and paver blocks on footpaths on bridges over the years during repairs The BMC offloaded 16 bridges in SoBo including the Chinchpokli bridge Bridges taken up by MahaRail1 Ollivant bridge Mazgaon ndash Safe2 Arthur Road bridge Chinchpokli ndash Safe3 S bridge Byculla ndash Safe4 Lower Parel Delisle bridge ndash Rebuilt by BMC5 Reay Road bridge ndash Demolished6 Ghatkopar bridge ndash Dilapidatedcondition awaitednot known7 Byculla bridge ndash To be razed after new bridge is ready8 Bellasis bridge Mumbai Central ndash Not known9 Tilak bridge Dadar ndash To be razed after new bridge is ready10 Currey Road bridge ndash not known11 Matunga bridge near labour camp ndash not knownThe BMC has also started work on Hancock Carnac and now Gokhale bridges2019Year when an IIT report said these bridges needed urgent attention