Mumbai: The municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani has instructed the civic officials to speed up the alignment of Andheri's Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge with CD Barfiwala and open it to the public at the earliest. He visited the site of the bridge and inspected the work on Wednesday.
The methodology for elevating the level of the C. D. Barfiwala flyover was developed by Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), and then further vetted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai with some modifications. The work is being carried out under the supervision of the VJTI and a technical consultant.
"The level of the Barfiwala flyover has been lifted to about 750 mm at Pier P10 and about 1,350 mm at pier P-11. The testing of the new bearings was completed last week. Currently, installing new bearings, concreting and curing work is in progress," said a civic official.
The one arm of the newly constructed east-west connector, Gokhale Bridge, was opened on February 26. However, due to the height gap of nearly six feet between the Gokhale and Barfiwala flyover, the motorists are facing inconvenience.
After facing severe criticism for the blunder, the BMC undertook the alignment work of both the structures from April 14. The BMC has plans to open the northern arm of the flyover for traffic movement by the end of June. Gagrani instructed officials to complete the work on schedule to avoid inconvenience to the citizens.
However, the launching of girders and completion of work including surfacing of the railway portion on the southern arm of the Andheri's Gopal Krishna Gokhale bridge has been pushed back to November 15. So, the entire Gokhale Bridge will now be open for traffic only by March 31, 2025.
Meanwhile, Gagrani also visited Kamala Nehru Park (Hanging Garden) in Malabar Hill, Juhu's Aeroplane garden and planted tamarind trees in a children's park at Santacruz, on the occasion of World Environment Day. He instructed the officials to clean the park daily, cut the overgrown grass, dispose of the garbage and appoint women security guards at the entrance of the park.
