Mumbai's Gokhale Bridge to reopen: Why was it shut, what are new things? All you need to know

Mumbai news: Andheri's key East to West connector bridge, the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, is all set to re-open for public usage on May 11, 2025, after nearly two and a half years since it was closed, reported the news portal Free Press Journal on Saturday, May 10.

“Though delayed, we set a firm target to open the bridge before the monsoon to avoid further inconvenience,” a senior civic official told the news portal. “The contractor followed a tight schedule to complete the remaining work, and the bridge will be opened for traffic from Sunday,” they said. 

Why was the Gokhale Bridge closed?

The Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, which is popularly known as the Gokhale Bridge, was officially shut down on November 7, 2022, for all traffic and has caused a lack of public transport connectivity in the area for daily travellers and school children.

According to the news portal's report, the pedestrian section of the bridge collapsed on July 3, 2018, and the accident claimed the lives of two individuals and injured three people.

The investigation also found that the collapsed portion of the bridge fell under the jurisdiction of the Western Railways, and the accident prompted the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take charge of the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge. 

When will the bridge re-open?

As per the reports, the bridge is set to fully re-open on May 11, 2025. This comes after its completion of the first phase in February 2024.

Even though the project faced delays, the project's completion ahead of the infamous Mumbai monsoon is set to offer much-needed relief for daily commuters in the Andheri East to West region.

BMC earlier planned to open two lanes of the bridge by May 2023, after they launched their first grider. However, the deadline was pushed back every time due to various delays including the late arrival of the “griders” from the Ambala factory, reported te news portal. 

Misalignment issue

A portion of the bridge was meant to be open in February 2024, but due to a six-foot gap between the new segment and the existing C D Barfiwala flyover, the bridge remained partially functional, hampering the flow of traffic.

After BMC commenced its realignment work in April 2024, with the assistance of experts from IIT-Bombay and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), the bridge has now been successfully aligned with the flyover ahead of its re-opening, according to the newBol rs portal's report.