Following a structural audit, authorities have taken decision to close down the Delisle bridge-Parel ROB (Lower Parel railway bridge) for safety reasons from Tuesday.
The bridge will be shut from 6 am tomorrow, July 24 for vehicles and pedestrians.
The audit was carried last week for this bridge by a joint team from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Western Railway (WR) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT-B) and even this bridge is since British era.
As the bridge is severely corroded the authority has decided to shut and dismantle the bridge.
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The bridge could carry light traffic according to Professor Pradipta Banerjee of IIT-B. Nevertheless, the possibility of heavy vehicles using the bridge in the absence of traffic police led them to call for a complete closure.
Not just IIT-B but even WR is trying hard to get parties on board who can help reconstruct the bridge in the shortest possible time due to chaos caused in congested areas after closure of the bridge, mainly during office hours.
Temporarily, Mumbai traffic police have listed alternate traffic routes for motorists from tomorrow morning.
* Traffic proceeding from Bharatmata junction to Shingte Master Chowk shall take a left turn from Shingte Master Chowk towards NM Joshi Marg.
* Traffic proceeding from Arthur Road Naka to Shingte Master Chowk on NM Joshi Road shall take a right turn at Shingte Master Chowk towards Bharatmata junction.
* Traffic proceeding from Sant Rahidas chowk will come straight to Balkrishna Gawde chowk (Wadacha Naka) and Yadav chowk and may go straight to Rakhangi Junction on Senapati Bapat Road.
* Traffic proceeding from Worli naka to Yadav Chowk on Ganpatrao Kadam Marg shall take right or left turn at Yadav chowk for Senapati Bapat Marg.
The audit team identified five other bridges that are in terribly in need of repairs apart from the Lower Parel ROB. Nevertheless, since the extent of damage is not as bad, Railways has asked the civic body to keep them open and initiate repair work at the earliest.
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