The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) approved the contractor's request for a five and a half-month extension for the work on the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge in Andheri on Monday, May 13. The completion date for the southern arm of the bridge has now been rescheduled to November 15. However, the bridge will only be fully operational for traffic by March 31, 2025.
The northern arm of the bridge was opened on February 26 after several delays. The girder launching for the bridge's second section was expected to be completed by May 31. But there have been delays in the delivery of the girder sections from Ambala, Haryana.
Abhijeet Bangar, the extra municipal commissioner (projects), approved the extension of the girder launch timetable revised yesterday. Further, the contractor has been asked by the local authorities to explain the delay. The contractor was also fined INR 3 crore by the civic body for to the delay.
As per reports, the girder will be built and launched in November once the steel components have arrived in Mumbai. The work on the road and other tasks will take three to four months.
According to the previous plan, the two lanes of the Barfiwala flyover and the complete bridge were to be operational by December 2024. The 90-metre structure is undergoing reconstruction at an estimated cost of INR 90 crore. It will be the second-longest rail bridge after the one at Vidyavihar.
Since November 2022, the Gokhale Bridge has been closed due to safety concerns. The closure of the east-west link has caused inconvenience for commuters in Andheri. After 15 months, the northern arm of the bridge was opened. However, the nearly two-metre height difference between the Gokhale and CD Barfiwala flyovers caused problems for travellers.
The BMC started working on alignment after consulting with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI). The work is expected to be completed by next month.
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