After several delays, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will finally inaugurate the Carnac Bridge in South Mumbai on Thursday morning, July 10. The bridge has also been renamed to Sindoor Flyover. The name was changed following a suggestion by Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
Narwekar proposed the new name to mark India’s military action in Pahalgam between May 7 and May 10. However, as per a report by HT, the BMC PRO said there was no specific reason given for the renaming.
Several officials, including IT and Culture Minister Ashish Shelar, Skills and Innovation Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, MP Arvind Sawant, MLAs Sunil Shinde and Rajhans Singh, and Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, will attend the inauguration.
The bridge connects the east and west corridors of the city. It connects P D’Mello Road to busy markets such as Crawford Market, Kalbadevi, and Mohammad Ali Road. It is located close to Masjid Bunder railway station.
The original Carnac Bridge was 150 years old. It was demolished in August 2022 after Central Railway declared it unsafe. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took up the project and completed the new structure by June 10. The work was led by Abhijit Bangar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects).
The total length of the bridge is 328 meters. Of this, 70 meters fall on railway land, while 230 meters are approach roads under the BMC. It includes 130 meters on the east side and 100 meters on the west side. The bridge includes two large steel girders. Each weighs 550 metric tonnes. The girders are 70 meters long, 26.5 meters wide, and 10.8 meters high. They are supported by reinforced concrete piers.
Installing the girders over active rail tracks was a challenging task. The girders were aligned, then slid across 58 meters of tracks from a height of 8 to 9 meters, and fixed onto the piers. The BMC confirmed that all work is complete. The bridge has passed the required load tests. It also received a no-objection certificate from the railway department.