Mumbai: Finally, considering the request of BMC's bridges department, the technical experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai) and Veermata Jijabai Institute of Technology (VJTI), inspected the structural stability of the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge on Sunday morning. The experts will examine and recommend if the approaches of the existing bridge could be reopened temporarily for pedestrians and light vehicles till August 31, 2023.
The bridge department of the BMC had written to the technical institutes last week, to give an expert opinion. Accordingly, the BMC officials along with technical experts visited the bridge. The agencies will conduct technical surveys to check if the structure is feasible enough to take the load of pedestrians and light vehicles. The report of both agencies will be compared and then BMC will take a decision according to it. "We are taking precautions and will double-check before opening the approaches for pedestrians and light vehicles since human lives are precious and we don't want to take any chances," said the civic official of the bridge department.
Ulhas Mahale, deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure ) said, "The experts from the technical institutes have inspected the bridge. The reports might be submitted by the institutions in the next week. After that, a final call would be taken on reopening the bridge temporarily."
In a high-level meeting held at Mantralaya on November 11, it was decided to seek a second opinion on the structural report and evaluate if approaches can be used for light vehicle movement, including bikes and three-wheelers. The civic body will be disbursing Rs. 17 crores fund to western railways for carrying out the demolition works. The BMC has also floated a tender on November 12, for reconstructing the bridge.
The civic body is planning to reopen one arm of the bridge by May 2023 and it aims to completely start the newly constructed bridge by September 2023. The Gokhale bridge was closed to pedestrian and vehicular movement from Nov 7.
