Mumbai: Grant Road Bridge reopened a day after cracks seen
Tuesday was a bad day for Mumbai; within 16 hours, two city bridges faced infrastructural defect. While a section of Gokhale Road overbridge, connecting Andheri East and West stations, caved in due to incessant rains, a road-over-bridge (ROB) on Grant Road developed cracks. It was since closed down. However, after inspecting, authorities concluded, "It's a surface crack." The bridge was hence reopened yesterday afternoon.
Some motorists noticed the crack on the pivotal Frere Bridge around 11.10PM on Tuesday. They uploaded pictures on Twitter. Soon, Mumbai Police barricaded the area and diverted the traffic to Nana Chowk towards Kennedy Bridge. Next day, both Western Railway (WR) and BMC conducted inspections. "It is safe for road traffic over the railway portion," said Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, WR.
BMC carried out minor repairs on the bridge and traffic was allowed again on Frere that connects Nana Chowk and Novelty Cinema across railway tracks. Meanwhile, the Andheri bridge collapse affected traffic heavily, as WEH and SV Road in western suburbs were chock-a-block with vehicles. Traffic was also moving slowly on Milan Subway, Andheri subway and Vile Parle flyover on Tuesday evening.
