Mumbai: Delisle bridge completion deadline extended further

The deadline for the completion of Delisle bridge in Lower Parel has been extended yet again. The bridge is now expected to open by October 2023.

This was the first joint bridge project between Western Railway and BMC.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had planned to open it in April. However, as per the new deadline, the bridge may open only after the monsoon.

The bridge was shut in August 2018 for traffic after IIT-Bombay after it was declared unsafe by IIT experts.

Now almost five years later, only 60% work is complete despite shutting it down. Officials now expect the bridge to open only by October.

Civic officials previously stated that the bridge would be completed by April if the railways handed over the N M Joshi Marg approach road by October 1, 2022. Although the WR has done so, the deadline has been extended to October 2023.

Significance of Delisle bridge

The Delisle bridge is a key connector in the city. It is effectively the only pathway to the Lower Parel office district for rail commuters who live in the eastern suburbs.

Commuters from the eastern suburbs generally travel by train upto Currey Road station and use this bridge to cross over into Lower Parel to reach Commercial Compounds such as Kamala Mills, High Street Phoenix and Peninsula Park, etc.

The bridge is also used by pedestrians who cross from Lower Parel’s east to west and vice versa. It is also a point of entry/exit for commuters from Lower Parel railway station, one of the most crowded in Mumbai’s suburban network. The bridge is also an east-west link for motorists, with 1,200 vehicles using it every hour, as per a conservative estimate.