The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will bring down weight of road-over-bridge (RoBs) and bridges connecting to railway stations in central and western railway following the recommendation of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). The civic body will bring a proposal for the same during the standing committee this week.
A senior official from BMC's bridge department said the job entails removing old materials such as concrete and paver blocks from the bridges and resurfacing them with mastic asphalt.
The IIT had conducted a survey of 445 bridges across Mumbai after Andheri's Gokhale bridge had collapsed in April 2018 and recommended a number of measures, from offloading to major repairs.
"The IIT survey found excess weight on bridges and it recommended offloading to increase durability," said the official. Offloading is a process to scrape off the excess layers of asphalt and concrete laid on the bridges over the years during repairs. "Materials like reinforced concrete (RCC) and paver blocks from bridge footpaths will be scrapped and a fresh layer of mastic asphalt will be added," he said, adding that repairs would be done in phases so as not to disrupt traffic altogether.
"A proposal to offload 16 road overbridges and foot overbridges along Central and Western Railway falling under five civic wards will be tabled before the standing committee for approval," said the official.
The estimated cost of mastic asphalt in 16 bridges would be around Rs 11.4 crore. However, only one contractor has shown interest in the work. "Despite repeated attempts, a single contractor has shown interest and same will be tabled before the committee for approval," added the official.
Sanjay Darade, chief Engineer (bridges), said that after the proposal is cleared from the standing committee, a work order would be given to the contractor. "We will then take permission from the traffic department for block to carry out the work," he said.
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