After the collapse of an old British Raj era bridge in Mahad on the Mumbai-Goa highway, whose collapse has resulted in the suspected deaths of over 40 people, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) clo
After the collapse of an old British Raj era bridge in Mahad on the Mumbai-Goa highway, whose collapse has resulted in the suspected deaths of over 40 people, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) closed the 153-year-old Kalwa bridge to vehicular traffic on Thursday morning. Even though this has resulted in heavy traffic jams at the Kalwa Naka in Thane, as the vehicular load has now shifted to the new Kalwa bridge, the TMC has cited safety reasons for its decision.
Speaking on the issue, a TMC official said, “We closed the entire bridge to traffic on Thursday morning. We will now conduct an inspection of the bridge, followed by a structural audit. Based on its results, we will decide whether to reopen the bridge to traffic or not.”
After the new Kalwa bridge was constructed, the old one, which was constructed by the British in 1863, was closed to heavy vehicles.
The Thane civic body had restricted vehicular movement on the old bridge to two-wheeler vehicles and auto rickshaws.
The official said, “Due to earlier traffic diversions, we expect traffic movement in and out of Mumbai not to be hampered in a big way. However, since there was already a traffic diversion in place, we do not have an exact number of vehicular traffic on the Kalwa bridge.”
Access to this bridge has now been indefinitely closed. The Thane civic body does not have an estimate on the amount of time that will be needed to conduct a structural audit of the bridge.
