Even as the railway authority took up the work of placing the first girder on Lower Parel’s Delisle Road bridge, giving a boost to the project amid hopes of completion by the year-end, the projected completion time has again been delayed and the bridge is unlikely to open for vehicular movement before 2023. 

The bridge was shut for traffic in July 2018 and has met several delays, the major ones being the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of skilled labour thereafter. The railway authority is likely to complete the bridge work by October 2022, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation can work on the approach road only after that. Mumbai Suburban Guardian Minister Aadtiya Thackeray, who visited the site on Sunday, has blamed the railway authority for the delay.