The BMC will finally begin to conduct an inventory of all the 300 existing bridges across the city, as the Standing Committee on Wednesday approved the proposal to appoint consultants to audit these b
The BMC will finally begin to conduct an inventory of all the 300 existing bridges across the city, as the Standing Committee on Wednesday approved the proposal to appoint consultants to audit these bridges. However, this decision has been delayed by over three weeks, following mayor Snehal Ambekar’s letter on August 7 in connection with the Mahad bridge collapse tragedy, directing to the municipal commissioner to come up with a strategy for securing Mumbai’s bridges.
The BMC has now appointed eight consultants to map all bridges and survey all bridges to determine how many of them need reconstruction and repair. The consultants will conduct total station surveys, geo-surveys and traffic analysis and prediction for the next 20 years to determine if the bridge will be able to sustain the load. If it is found to be otherwise, the BMC will propose either reconstruction or repair of the bridge.
The consultant is also required to determine the status of persons affected by the project in case of reconstruction of the bridge, and propose rehabilitation measures for them. In case of reconstruction, the consultant will be required to propose a design of the new bridge, before work can commence. The cost of the proposal will vary depending on the amount of work required to be done on every bridge.
There are a total of 314 bridges in the city which include flyovers, Road over bridges, Foot over bridges, and railway foot over bridges. The BMC currently has data available on 237 of these. The other 77 bridges fall within railways land, and the BMC is in the process of collecting information regarding their status from the railways.
Meanwhile, there are around 23 bridges in the city at present that have been constructed during the British era, suggesting that they definitely need repair. A senior civic official of the roads department said, “Once the inventory is complete, we will have all required information regarding all bridges.”
