Mumbai: After remaining out of bounds for 15 months, the Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai will be opened partially for vehicular traffic on Monday. The Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge is Mumbai’s crucial east-west connector at Andheri. The southern arm of the 90-metre bridge will be inaugurated by Guardian Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha whereas the northern arm is expected to be opened in July as the second girder on the bridge is yet to be installed.

Initially, only Light Motor Vehicles (LMV) will be allowed to ply on the bridge. In November 2022, the bridge was closed for traffic due to weak structural stability of the bridge.

The closure of the bridge had worsened the travel woes as the commuters had to take a detour either from the Andheri Subway or Captain Vinayak Gore flyover for east-west commute, which additionally consumed 45-50 minutes during peak hours. The journey would otherwise take only 10 minutes.

According to sources, BMC has completed such a crucial infrastructure project in such a short span of time.

Gokhale Bridge: Rs 100 crore-project

The southern arm of the bridge will cater to east-west traffic. The project cost is estimated to be Rs 100 crore. Each steel girder on the Gokhale Bridge weighs up to 1,300 metric tonnes (MT). The bridge also holds the distinction of being the second longest railway over bridge (ROB) after the Vidyavihar ROB in the eastern suburbs which is 99.8 metres in length.

The demolition work of the old structure was carried out by the Western Railways given that the bridge passes above the railway tracks whereas the construction of the new bridge was undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The Western Railway started demolishing the old structure in December 2022 and the work order for building the new bridge was issued in January, 2023.