Traffic cops are reducing traffic flow to the bridge by re-routing vehicles at Matunga, Dadar TT, Kalachowkie towards Wadala and Reay Road; meanwhile BMC says it will finish work by May 15
If you travel every day via the Gloria Bridge at Byculla, there’s good news for you. While the bridge itself has been shut for repairs, traffic snarls at the bridge have reduced, thanks to early diversion by the Traffic police.
This paper had reported about the long pile-up of vehicles on May 2, the day when the bridge was shut for vehicles. Both the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in a bungle up, forgot to inform commuters that the bridge was closed off. Both chose to blame each other for the communication breakdown.
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Traffic diversions at various points on the southbound stretch has reduced traffic to some extent at the Gloria Bridge in Byculla. Pics/Suresh KK
As of now, the bridge is non-operational and traffic at various points on the southbound stretch has been diverted from Gandhi Market (Matunga) and Dadar TT circle to Wadala BEST depot and Char Rasta. Further south, vehicles at DK Road junction (Kalachowkie) and Barrister Nath Pai Marg are being re-routed to Tomani junction and Reay Road respectively.
Ready in a fortnight
Work on the bridge started on May 1, and will go on till May 15. The BMC says it is working hard to do it even before the deadline. “We are working day and night on war footing and will finish it before May 15,” claimed S O Kori, chief engineer of the Bridge Department of the BMC.
mid-day’s report about closure of the bridge and ensuing chaos
About 40 contract labourers in each eight-hour shift have been employed for the job. The civic body has already finished resurfacing the road on the bridge, and currently its joints are being worked upon and repaired. The site supervisor said that work on 26 of the 32 joints had already begun.
“We will make sure to finish work on the joints by May 12,” said the supervisor from M/s RPF Infraprojects, the firm contracted for the job, on condition of anonymity. While repair work on joints will cost R60 lakh, the entire project will cost Rs 2 crore.
At 9 am yesterday, one lane of the Lalbaug flyover was open, but the flyover was shut after 12 noon to avoid a jam near the Byculla bridge. No heavy vehicles are allowed on the Lalbaug flyover, and commuters have experienced some ease of movement of vehicles towards the south.
“We started work because it is vacation time for schools and colleges, so that there is less traffic on the road,” added Kori. However, when we went on P D’mello Road, we saw a traffic jam from Reay Road to Dockyard Road railway station, and one near the gate of St George Hospital.
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