According to the latest reports, six years after its demolition, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday, August 1, evening, opened the newly built Hancock bridge for vehicular movement. However, some work on the bridge continues to be incomplete. This reportedly includes the likes of painting, fixing cat's eyes (small reflective pieces at road edges to guide vehicles because they glow when the light from vehicles hit on them) and resurfacing a part of the slip road.
Based on accounts, on Monday, the BMC reopened the bridge after the Bombay High Court passed an order permitting interim access to the bridge. The court was reportedly hearing a writ petition filed by residents of a residential society near the bridge seeking its access.
Narratives suggest that it was back in January 2016 that the Hancock bridge which is nearly 150 years old, placed between the Sandhurst Road and Byculla railway station on the Central Line was demolished in an 18-hour mega block. In February 2020, the work on the bridge's reconstruction was completed at an aggregate cost of INR 75 crore. The BMC, in December 2020, finished the construction of the pedestrian part of the bridge and in January 2021, it was opened only for pedestrians.
The chief engineer of BMC’s bridges department, Satish Thosar was quoted in a report by the Indian Express elaborating on how on Monday evening, the two lanes of the bridge were opened for vehicular movement after the court order. He added that certain work is pending which will be finished on priority during traffic movement too.
It has been reported that the Hancock bridge was slated to open in July but local residents from a nearby housing society approached the judiciary asking for access to the bridge.
Share
Tweet
