The bridge would remain out of bounds for motorists throughout the weekend and even till early hours of Monday.
Right from Malad to Bandra the Western Express Highway (WEH) witnessed bumper to bumper traffic due to closure of southbound lanes of Kalanagar flyover for maintenance and repair works.
The bridge would remain out of bounds for motorists throughout the weekend and even till early hours of Monday.
"From Friday noon we began the repair works on Kalanagar flyover to replace the expansion joints on the southbound lanes. This work will go on over the weekend," said SS Deshmukh, executive engineer of public works department (PWD). In all there are six expansion joints that would be replaced.
The Mumbai traffic police has advised the Mumbaikars to use alternative roads and public transport like suburban trains to avoid traffic snarls on this arterial road on Mumbai.
"There are plans to replace the expansion joints even on the northbound lanes of this bridge, it may be take up either next weekend or after a month. However, a final time frame is yet to be finalised," added Deshmukh.
Motorists on Friday were caught unawares due to the repair work, as a result it took over two hours and three hours in some cases to cover the distance between Borivli and Mahim.
Construction of this bridge had begun on July 10, 1996 and took three years to open it for public, thereby getting ready only on May 6, 1999. Since then the bridge's expansion joints haven't been replaced.
Expansion joints are structural joints on the flyovers that either expand or contract as per the day-to-day temperatures. For the last few years, these joints had weakened and were also bumpy proving it to be similar to speed breakers for motorists. With its replacement, motorists should expect a smoother ride on the bridge.
Similar work was undertaken on Vakola flyover on the weekend of April 23 this year, wherein motorists in the western suburbs faced similar traffic congestion on the Western Express Highway.
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