After nearly five years of annoyance due to the Delisle bridge repair in Lower Parel, there is now some good news for drivers and locals. The bridge, which is close to Lower Parel station, acts as the main connector in the island city. By the first week of June, the BMC hopes to open one arm of this bridge, and by the end of July, the complete bridge.
On July 24, 2018, Delisle ROB was closed to traffic and pedestrians because IIT-B scientists deemed it hazardous, although the maintenance order wasn’t issued until January 2020. The closure followed the July 3, 2018, collapse of the Gokhale bridge in Andheri, which claimed three lives.
People travelling by train from the eastern suburbs could disembark at the Currey Road station and quickly cross the bridge to reach the Peninsula Park, High Street Phoenix, and Kamala Mills business complexes. In Lower Parel, people could also travel east-west on this bridge.
The girders for the new bridge, which is made completely of steel, were put into place last year. The new 90-meter-long “Skew Bridge” will have a span of 65 degrees. Three lanes will give it a larger highway for a smooth flow of traffic, and escalators will make it simple for pedestrians to leave platforms for trains to access it.
The estimated construction cost is Rs 225 crore, of which Rs 138 crore will be spent by the BMC to construct the structure that is under its purview, while Rs 87 crore would be spent by Western Railway.
An officer mentioned that this year they want to open this bridge before the monsoon to help with traffic flow. The girders have been set in motion, and currently, along with some finishing work, work is being done to level and surface the asphalt roads.
Civic officials reported that the deck slab casting reconstruction for the two open web girders (OWG) at the Delisle ROB was finished on January 19. Other tasks like painting OWGS, casting anti-crash barriers, and installing pathways are anticipated to be finished soon.
The approaches must be finished by the BMC before the road’s top finishing surface, mastic asphalt, can be installed. WR had asked that the civic organization finish the road on the OWG portion as well at the meeting.
Advocate Dhanpal Solanki Jain, a resident of Worli, lamented the “terrible inconvenience” caused to locals by the closing of the Lower Parel bridge, saying that it was particularly difficult for people who had to access hospitals, educational institutions, and offices and travel towards Lalbaug or Byculla. The railways and BMC have been keeping the ball in the other person’s court, causing delays, and at the end of the day, citizens are suffering as a result of this administrative lethargy.