Mumbai’s first cable-stayed flyover across railway tracks will now open by December 31, 2026, after construction faced a delay of around two months due to utility-shifting work. The project was earlier scheduled to be completed by October 31, 2026.
The flyover is being built along Keshavrao Khadye Marg near Mahalaxmi Railway Station. A 78.5-metre-tall pylon is currently being built as the main support for the cable-stayed section of the bridge. The structure will be the first cable-stayed bridge in Mumbai to cross railway tracks.
The entire flyover will be 803 metres long and 17.2 metres wide. The portion that falls within the railway boundary will have a width of 23.01 metres. Construction of the 95-metre western span has already been completed. Most of the piers on the western side of the pylon have also been built.
Work on the 165-metre eastern span, which falls on railway land, is yet to begin. It will start once the railways provide the required traffic block. Five piers are also awaiting construction because of a planned traffic diversion. The diversion will be added after approval from the traffic police. Once completed, it will improve the connection between Saat Rasta and Mahalaxmi Ground.
Despite the main construction progressing as planned, sources suggest that the utility-shifting work has delayed the project by around two months. Following the delay, the bridge department has revised the project's completion deadline to December 31, 2026.
The new Mahalaxmi cable-stayed bridge is part of a larger plan to improve road connectivity in the area. The BMC had cleared the project in 2020, and work orders were issued in January that year. Construction began in February 2020.
The bridge is also being built to replace the existing Mahalaxmi bridge, which is more than 90 years old. A structural audit in 2017 had found that the old bridge needed urgent repairs. Since it is an important road link in South Mumbai, the existing bridge can only be removed after the new structure is ready.
The cable-stayed design was chosen because the bridge has to cross an active railway corridor. The section over the railway tracks is around 165 metres long, making a conventional bridge design more difficult. The new structure will have four vehicular lanes, compared to two in the old one.