The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is going to change the design of a bridge over the Mithi River, which will be a part of the Metro 2B corridor.
This change is due to engineering and technical challenges in the original design. The redesign could further delay the completion of the corridor, which was earlier set for December 2025.
The Metro 2B corridor is 23.64 kilometres long and connects Andheri West to Mandale in Mankhurd via the Bandra Kurla Complex. While 75% of the corridor is reportedly complete, progress on the bridge has been stalled.
The initial design for the bridge was a cable-stayed arch structure. Construction began in 2017 but faced significant technical and engineering hurdles.
As per a report by HT, these unresolved challenges caused work on the bridge to stop midway. Spannovation Consulting India is the agency tasked with redesigning the bridge. As per reports, the foundation and parts of the substructure were built as per the original design. However, delays in the superstructure led to the decision to adopt a simpler, segmental, balanced cantilever design.
The exact nature of the technical difficulties has not been disclosed by either MMRDA or Spannovation Consulting. It also remains unclear whether the existing foundation and substructure can be reused for the new design.
The Metro 2B corridor has faced multiple delays since its original completion deadline of 2021. A key 5.87-kilometre section between the MTNL junction in the Bandra Kurla Complex and Chembur was originally assigned to Simplex Infrastructure in 2017. However, the contract was terminated after only 5% of the work was completed within the allotted 30 months. The section was later re-awarded to NCC in 2022.
Currently, the 5-kilometre stretch between Mandale and Diamond Garden in Chembur is expected to be completed by June 2025. The remaining parts of the corridor are scheduled for December 2025. However, the redesign of the Mithi River bridge could push the deadline further.
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