Recently, a joint meeting of experts from IIT-Bombay, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials was held. In the meeting, the discussions were centred on aligning Andheri's Gokhale bridge with the CD Barfiwala flyover. IIT-B approved VJTI's suggestion of merging both structures, as highlighted in the civic body's report.
According to media reports, a minor change was suggested. Each of the four Barfiwala flyover spans would be lifted separately rather than all four at once in order to combine with the Gokhale bridge.
The meeting was held at IIT-B with the agenda of validating VJTI's report by seeking suggestions from other reputed agencies. This action coincided with the intense criticism BMC received for the newly constructed bridge's and the flyover's misalignment, which left a six-foot vacuum between them.
Despite Gokhale Bridge's partial reinstatement, the Barfiwala flyover—which links Juhu with the important East-West Andheri connection—is off-limits due to the disparity in height between the two structures. The BMC had stated that the reason for the discrepancy was because the railways had raised their height requirements and asked VJTI to provide a report on linking the bridges.
Since tendering is prohibited in the model code of conduct for elections except in cases of emergency, BMC also intends to request permission from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to move forward with the merger activities. An estimated INR 8 crore would be spent on the alignment work for both arms.
To align the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge and the CD Barfiwala flyover, VJTI had suggested using specific engineering techniques. The institute has suggested employing jacks to raise its slabs.
Remarkably, the most recent review from VJTI recommended against demolishing the Barfiwala flyover, citing its structural soundness. The institute advises utilising jacks to raise the slabs instead. The research states that once the project starts, it should take about 90 days to merge the north side of the Barfiwala flyover with the Gokhale bridge.
Local MLA Ameet Satam wrote to Bhushan Gagrani, the recently appointed municipal commissioner, asking him to request special clearance from the Election Commissioner in order to carry out this task. He stated in his letter that the project, as mentioned above, is an emergency affecting lakhs of commuters.
In the letter, he wrote, “In response to BMC's request for an expert opinion, VJTI has provided some technical solutions to bridge the gap between the two. The estimated duration of this task is ninety days. Given the model code of conduct for elections and the fact that the aforementioned work is an emergency that will affect the commutes of thousands of citizens, I kindly ask you to obtain special permission from the Election Commission to carry out this work as an emergency and to release a tender for it so that it can be finished by the monsoon season.”
Satam encouraged the commissioner to make sure that the work is carried out under VJTI's supervision, stating that the organisation that built the bridge could implement the recommendations made by VJTI. In order to meet the December 31 deadline, he further asked the commissioner to quicken the second side's work.
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