Mumbai: Inexplicable delay of 4 yrs in shutting bridge

Mumbai: The shutting down of Gokhale bridge – a key connector between the east and west sides in western suburbs – will have a huge impact on traffic from Mumbai city towards Andheri. The vehicular traffic enters through SV Road, Link Road, Yari Road, Four Bungalows and Seven Bungalows. Experts said there has been a loss of precious four years before coming to the conclusion that the entire bridge needs reconstruction.

Why does the BMC wait till the city’s bridges reach a stage of collapseTransport expert AV Shenoy asked two pertinent questions, “Why does the BMC wait till the city’s bridges reach a stage of collapse? Why can’t we plan well in advance?” He said the closing down of the bridge will lead to major traffic congestion as the two alternate east-west crossings – the Shaan Talkies rail overbridge (ROB) and the Andheri subway – have only two lanes. He called for the traffic police and the BMC Traffic Planning Cell working together for a fool-proof solution. Another traffic expert Mohammed Afzal said, “The loss of four years in coming to this conclusion is a lot of time.

I represented the Welfare Organisation for Road Safety and Prevention of Accidents (WORSPA) in the MCGM Apex Committee. “”It is also called the inter-utility organisation and functions under the chairmanship of the Municipal Commissioner and deputy municipal commissioners together since decades. I have always felt that there has never been coordination between various utilities across 24 wards,” said Afzal.

A joint meetings to save the city bridges should be thereAfzal said that state bodies like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, the traffic police, fire brigade, MTNL and other departments concerned should be part of joint meetings, which, unfortunately, haven’t been called by the municipal commissioner every two months as mandated. He said that it’s in the public interest to close the bridge but too little has been done and that too very late. “Four years, time, money and scattered efforts have gone waste,” said the former WORSPA secretary with over four decades of experience in the sector.

BMC has options to provide safe and free passageAfzal said there are three options to provide safe and free passage to traffic – the JVLR bridge, Amboli subway and Irla Road towards the airport in Santacruz. He suggested the need for proper signboards every 250 metres for traffic in both directions – south-bound and north-bound. This, he said, should also apply to vehicles plying east to west and vice-versa.

Second, he suggested divisions from Mahim, Vakola and Vile Parle East to Milind Sunway bridge. This traffic, he said, should not be allowed to go further. Traffic between Vile Parle and Andheri East or West should take the bridge connecting Irla on SV Road to the Santacruz airport signal.

Further, traffic from Malad and far-flung suburbs should use the bridge connecting Oberoi Mall with Inorbit Mall on Link Road. “Signages explaining new traffic management, diversions with proper explanation is the only viable option,” said Mr Afzal, adding that if the RTO/traffic department fails to observe the above suggestions then there will be tremendous bottlenecks everywhere. Mumbai: Gokhale bridge closes from Monday, check out the diversions announced by traffic police.