Who planned this bridge in Mumbai?

Most motorists duck involuntarily as they drive along the northern end of the VM Jog flyover at Andheri. Can’t blame them, for at just a little over 4 metres from the road, the two ends of the under-construction metro bridge seems eager to kiss the rooftops of cars.

“Why couldn’t they have planned a gradually raised gradient from Saki Naka onwards so that the bridge could be sufficiently high?” rues Bhushan Singh, who drives a luxury sleeper coach from Pune to Udaipur thrice a week.

While the board put up by the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) says no vehicle above 4m will be allowed, in actuality this is largely left to the whims of security personnel placed at both ends of the flyover. “Our buses are the same height as the BEST’s A/c buses, but we are regularly told not to take the flyover,” complains his operator.

BEST staff who drive the stretch on routes like 448, 44 and AS 2 also point out how they slow down just before the metro bridge. “The Andheri flyover road has not been resurfaced since the monsoon. It is scary to think what will happen if the bus bounces, so we slow down at that point. People think we are doing this on purpose and keep honking from behind but they should look out of their cars and see how close the bridge ends are,” says a driver.   

At present, over 90% of the work on the bridge has already been completed. The metro rail will pass over the Jog Flyover in Andheri (East) at a height of 6.4 metres.

President of the All India Motor Congress Bal Malkit Singh says the construction of this bridge at such a ridiculous height reflects poor planning by the Metro authorities.

“In Bangkok too they had old flyovers when constructing the Metro, but by planning adequate gradients at specific points the authorities ensured that traffic movement on existing flyovers was not compromised.”

MMOPL officials do not want to go on record but insist this is a temporary move till work on joining the two ends of the metro bridge is completed. But it is not clear how the height of the bridge will increase after all the work is completed.

Singh wonders why the Mumbai Entry Point Limited (MEPL), which collects toll from motorists to use flyovers, hasn’t reduced the toll, since the Andheri flyover passes over the most congested stretch on the Western Express Highway (WEH) flyover due to the ongoing construction of the metro railway bridge passing over the flyover.

“We are writing to them on this and plan to take legal steps if our concerns are not addressed adequately,” he told DNA.
Interestingly, MEPL says that the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is the only body that can decide on whether toll can be reduced.

Arvind Vinze, head of corporate communication at MEPL said, “We simply collect toll. You should talk to MSRDC.”  Without taking a stand, MSRDC managing director Bipin Shrimali said, “We will have to go into the legal provisions of the agreement with MEPL.”

“I live near Marol-Maroshi and getting out of home and driving to work has been a nightmare for years together because of the Metro work. The road is also not maintained by the authorities who use the construction work as an excuse not to do so. Now things have become worse since most trucks and private buses coming from Gujarat and Rajasthan are diverted below the Andheri flyover,” complains Vidya Desai, 32, who works with a private bank in South Mumbai.

“We are told to bear with the inconvenience for a better future. But how much and for how long are we expected to suffer?”

The resultant bottle neck affects the entire stretch between Goregaon and Andheri, affecting thousands of motorists.