Mumbai: Three new bridges await inauguration despite commuter hardships

Mumbaikars could soon get three new bridges at once with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC awaiting a VIPrsquos availability to inaugurate them civic officials saidThe Dindoshi court to Filmcity 126 km long flyover part of GMLR and the Vidyavihar bridge are ready while finishing touches are being carried out on the Sion Railway Overbridge ROB officials said Addressing reports of a delay in the Sion bridgersquos opening on Wednesday a civic official said the BMC had not announced an inauguration date for any of the three bridgesldquoWe had expected a VIP to inaugurate them on October 14 but the person was unavailable A revised date is being consideredrdquo the official saidAnother civic official said the GMLR and Vidyavihar bridges had been handed over by the contractor before their September deadlines while the Sion bridge was nearing completion four months ahead of its February 2027 deadlineldquoAll three are expected to be inaugurated on a single dayrdquo the official saidThe Sion ROB is a joint project of the BMC and Central RailwayIts reopening is keenly awaited by commuters who have faced disruption since the bridge was closed for reconstructionGMLR bridge The GoregaonMulund Link Road GMLR flyover is ready for inauguration according to civic officials PicsSatej ShindeOfficials say work is completedldquoWorks are completed but we are not opening them yet as some finishing work is still ongoing at the three bridges We will announce an opening date within the next two days Itrsquos not confirmed yet whom will attend the inaugurationrdquo stated a senior civic official on WednesdayldquoThe other two bridges are ready We expect a VIP to open all three on a single dayrdquo another official familiar with the matter saidCitizens want bridges opened without delayThe wait for a formal inauguration has drawn criticism from commuters and activists who say completed public infrastructure should be opened for use as soon as it is safe ldquoI believe Sion bridge is now ready If that is indeed so I hope they open it at the earliest without waiting for the availability of people to inaugurate it It has caused a lot of hardship and earlier it eases the better it will be for the publicrdquo Harsha Bhogle wrote on XTransport and traffic analyst Jagdeep Desai said delays in opening public projects reflected poorly on the authorities He suggested that projects could be inaugurated virtually if the chief guest was unavailable in personRTI activist Anil Galgali said an official had informed him that all three bridges were ready and that the BMC was waiting for the CMrsquos availability He urged the civic body to open them at the earliestActivist Zoru Bhathena also called for the bridges to be opened without further delay arguing that public infrastructure should serve commuters rather than wait for political inaugurationsVidyavihar bridge The bridge connecting Vidyavihar East and West is ready for inauguration as per civic officialsJVPD flyover targeted for December 2027Separately the BMC has set December 31 2027 as the target to complete the 175km JuhuVile Parle Development Scheme JVPD flyover which will connect the end of the CD Barfiwala flyover in Andheri West to the JuhuVersova Link RoadAdditional Municipal Commissioner Projects Abhijit Bangar inspected the project on Wednesday and reviewed construction progress traffic management and timelines He directed officials to expedite the work and open the flyover to traffic by December 31 2027 ahead of its scheduled March 2028 deadlineThe flyover is expected to bypass five major traffic junctions and reduce peakhour travel time along the route from about 45 minutes to around 20 minutes