According to a senior official on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has requested that the Gokhale Bridge, an east-west road connector that spans Western Railway tracks in Andheri, be promptly closed to vehicle traffic.
Ameet Satam, a local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, had written to the head of the civic authority, Iqbal Singh Chahal, on November 1 regarding the bridge’s “hazardous” state.
According to Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velarasu, “We have requested that traffic police promptly stop down vehicular traffic on the bridge.”
In 2018, two people died due to the collapse of a bridge section over the trains.
As a crucial east-west link, officials acknowledged that the bridge’s shutdown would cause traffic jams, but they stressed that other routes would be finalized to alleviate the situation for drivers.
According to MLA Satam’s letter, construction on the bridge’s BMC component is almost finished but has not yet begun on the section above the railroad lines.
Satam said in the letter, “According to a study from BMC consultant SCG Consultancy Services, the present bridge is in a highly unsafe condition and may result in an accident at any time and should be promptly closed down.”
Additionally, he requested that Chahal speed up the bid-invitation procedure for constructing the section of the bridge above the railroad lines.
