Mumbai flyover scare: Vision barrier collapses onto SV Road after dumper rams wall

Damaged dumper on the flyover after the crash. Pics/By Special Arrangement

A major mishap was averted on Friday, around 1.30 pm to 2 pm, after a portion of the vision barrier on the Mrinaltai Gore flyover extension collapsed onto SV Road below. The incident allegedly occurred after a dumper rammed into the flyover wall and barrier while negotiating a sharp curve on the flyover arm towards the Relief Road in Oshiwara.

Video evidence

A video shared by a reader with mid-day shows the damaged dumper on the flyover and the collapsed portion of the barrier. The footage appears to show that the vehicle may have lost control near a sharp curve before crashing into the barrier.

Broken barrier panels on the Mrinaltai Gore flyover extension

Safety concerns

Jiten Ahuja, resident, Adarsh Nagar
‘The road below is usually very busy, making this incident a serious cause for concern. We hope the Traffic Police Department asks the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to install speed restriction boards on the flyover, along with speed gun cameras, so motorists do not speed while negotiating the sharp curves on the bridge.'

Karan Jotwani, Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association
‘There is an urgent need to install vehicle-actuated speed displays and automatic number plate recognition cameras on the flyover to monitor and deter speeding. The speed limit for heavy vehicles should also be reduced to 30 kmph, as their high laden weight and larger wheel diameter require a greater turning radius, making them difficult to manoeuvre around the sharp curves on this bridge at high speeds.'

Vision barrier panel that fell onto SV Road below. Pic/X/@SuryakantINC

BMC response

This newspaper reached out to the Disaster Management Department for information and was told that the Mumbai Fire Brigade received a call at 1.48 pm stating that the structure was "likely to fall". The Disaster Management Department referred queries to the BMC Public Relations Officer. The PRO's office told mid-day, "Unless there are specific people/eye witnesses who witnessed the collapse and its impact, PRO will not respond to incidents with rumours." The PRO also asked the reporter if they were at the spot and told them to wait so no rumours spread without information.

Motorist Speak

"While travelling on the flyover extension, I saw a heavy vehicle, which appeared to have lost control on a sharp turn, ram into the wall and vision barrier on the left. A portion of the barrier then collapsed onto SV Road below. Fortunately, no one was injured; I was told."

With inputs from Eeshanpriya MS