After a year of the Andheri Gokhale bridge collapse incident, the BMC has invited tender for demolition and reconstruction of both sides of the bridge. In a first of its kind work to be undertaken, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going to reconstruct only the slopes of the bridge.
As per the estimation of the civic body, the work will take 18 months and estimate cost of the project is Rs 88 crores. The bridge is an important link between east-west connectivity over the western railway line. The civic body plans to carry out the construction by closing one side of the bridge at a time. The railway has completed work of demolition and construction of both side pathways in the last month.
A part of Gokhale bridge collapsed on July 3, 2018 on the railway track, and two people lost their lives. Soon after the incident, the Railway and BMC carried out an audit of the 48 years old bridge. In the first phase, the Western Railway has carried out the construction of pathways of both sides of the bridge which are in their periphery at the cost of Rs 3.34 crores. Now the civic body has invited the tenders to demolish the side arms and reconstruction on or before August 8. "The middle portion of the bridge is in good condition but the pillars and other beams on either side are corroded. So we will demolish and construct that part without any dimensional changes," said a senior officer from the BMC.
Though there isn't an example of reconstruction of only slopes of the bridge in the Mumbai, according to the engineers of the BMC it can be done. The work will be carried out from SV Road to railway side of the bridge on the west part and from railway land up to Teli Galli on east side. As per the BMC's estimation, the work will take 18 months and it will cost Rs 87.61 crore.
If all goes according to the plan the construction work will be started by the end of this year.
