Mumbai: First cable-stayed road overbridge in city will be ready soon

The new cable bridge will be open to the public from January 26. Pic/Shadab Khan

The city's first cable-stayed road overbridge at Reay Road station is finally complete and has become one of the fastest ones constructed over the rail lines. The new bridge has six lanes and a footpath for pedestrians. The construction work of this cable-stayed bridge was started on Valentine's Day 2022 and has been completed in two years. The new bridge has been part of a citywide project to upgrade old bridges in the city.

Century-old British-era bridges have been taken up for reconstruction by the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MRIDC) or Maharail, under agreement with the BMC and Railways, as their lifespan has almost come to an end," an official said. "The aim is to rebuild the old bridges into cable-stayed bridges without causing any hindrances to traffic in such a way that a new bridge is being constructed adjacent to the old one and then the existing old bridge is demolished for construction of a new one. Once ready, the cable-stayed bridges shall be an iconic symbol of Mumbai," he said.

Additionally, construction is in full swing at Byculla, Dadar, and Ghatkopar. The cable-stayed road overbridge at Reay Road is completed and ready for commissioning. "The bridge will allow traffic movement through the underpass of Barrister Nath Pai Road, and it will also maintain the required vertical clearance for passing of vehicles under the eastern freeway as per Indian Road Congress (IRC) standard. The new cable-stayed road overbridge will add more aesthetic appeal to the world-class heritage structure. Additionally, MRIDC has designed architectural LED lighting on the proposed bridge, which will enhance the aesthetic appeal. Also, it has been designed to improve the safety parameters with a bridge health monitoring system," he added.

Key details of project

>> Construction started on February 14, 2022
>> Estimated cost of the project: R273 crore
>> Length of road bridge: 385 m with 2 down ramps
>> Number of lanes: 6
>> The total project length is around 1.52 km