At least six traffic personnel and wardens have been deployed at the spot by the local traffic police to prevent accidents and crashing of heavy vehicles at the newly installed height barricade at Gloria Bridge in Byculla.
The Gloria Bridge, a crucial connector for commuters in South Mumbai, was declared unsafe by IIT Bombay during an earlier structural audit. Owing to this, it was supposed to be demolished; however, it is now undergoing only 'major repair' work by the civic body.
Heavy vehicles over 9 feet in height will not be allowed on the Gloria Bridge during this repair work till June 30. These heavy vehicles coming south from Dr BA Road will be diverted to Sant Savanta Junction and Seth Motishah Junction via slip road, said a notification issued by Pragya Jedge, DCP (South).
This ban has been imposed from Monday, April 1. Since, it was the first day of the Gloria bridge with installed barricades, motorists were unaware of it and many trucks and tempos headed towards the bridge, but were denied permission to enter the bridge.
Before installing the height barricades, the Mumbai Traffic Police had asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide traffic wardens. “They gave us 10 traffic wardens whom we trained to handle the traffic situation. We are confident that things will gradually improve,” said Byculla Traffic Division.
Mumbai traffic police officials had earlier instructed the civic body to build an overhead bridge before demolishing the Gloria bridge as traffic would then be diverted to the earlier bridge - which they believed would not affect traffic.
Despite repeated proposals to close traffic on the Gloria bridge or for repair work, the traffic police rejected it. “We have no alternative to replace the Gloria Bridge. The closure is also dangerous for regular vehicles,” said a senior traffic official.
During the repair work, BMC informed the traffic police about the work required on the bridge. It involves demolishing the existing dilapidated railings and replacing them with new ones. Major repair work will be done from under the bridge, officials said.
The next day, Tuesday, April 2, the traffic police said conditions were 30 per cent better. Though, schools and colleges have exams going on and many companies have a holiday season, so the traffic is less than usual. The only relief is that the repair work will be completed by the end of June," the official added.
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