Mumbai is no stranger to bizarre flyovers — from routes that were closed within hours of inauguration for being “too slippery” to a misaligned pathway that dangled several feet above the bridge it was supposed to connect. Others have managed to worsen congestion or create traffic bottlenecks upon use in the past few years. The latest entrant to this rather baffling list of architectural curiosities is a flyover within the Mira-Bhayandar suburb adjacent to Mumbai.
The yet-to-be-inaugurated route features a broad four-lane road that abruptly transforms into a two-lane design without much preamble. The outer tracks come to an abrupt end — forming a ledge with only empty space beyond it while the two central lanes forge determinedly ahead. It is not a gradual process. Vehicles using the flyover will have to force their way into the middle lanes or remain stranded on top of the flyover.
“That chokepoint is going to create more traffic jams than the flyover was intended to reduce. Not to mention vehicles launching themselves into thin air at night,” lamented one Reddit user.
“Four lanes to two with an abrupt choke point is not ‘future planning’. It’s crash engineering. If space is tight, you design a proper taper, merge length, signage, and speed control. Who signed off on this, and where’s the safety audit?” another asked on X.
“One, it looks horrible. Two, it will make the traffic situation horrible. Three, it will make human life horrible,” a third summed up.
The flyover runs along Metro Line 9 and connects the Mira Bhayandar Road with Golden Nest Circle in Bhayandar — one of the busiest junctions in the area where five roads meet and traffic remains heavy throughout the day. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has positioned it as the solution to congestion woes along the busy highway by offering those travelling towards Bhayandar a separate route.
Why does the flyover narrow from four to two lanes?
Local residents have questioned the design — pointing out that the flyover narrows sharply as it merges under Metro Line 9 near the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Garden station. Photos and videos flagging the bizarre design have also gone viral on social media with netizens heaping criticism on the civic bodies operating within Mumbai. The MMRDA however offered an explanation as the clips went viral.
“The flyover does not ‘suddenly narrow’. The transition from 4 lanes to 2 lanes is not a design flaw, but is based on available road width constraints, and future network planning….This design enables smooth crossing of one of the busiest junctions in the Mira–Bhayandar region while accommodating on-ground constraints. Provision has been kept for future widening, wherein the outer side of the flyover on both carriageways will be extended by an additional 1+1 lane to ensure improved east–west traffic continuity,” began a lengthy fact-check from the MMRDA.
The agency also noted that the expansion proposal was currently in a planning stage — likely to be taken up in coordination with the municipal corporation after obtaining the relevant approvals. It insisted that the current edition had been “designed primarily for traffic dispersal and congestion reduction in the Mira–Bhayandar area”.
“The flyover has been designed with two lanes for Bhayandar East and future connecting two lanes for Bhayandar West. Since the Bhayandar East arm comes first along the alignment, the 4-lane configuration presently transitions into 2 lanes. The remaining two lanes on the outer side are planned as part of the future extension towards Bhayandar West across the Western Railway line,” the MMRDA wrote on X.
The post also asserted that necessary safety measures have been incorporated while building the bridge. This included rumble strips, delineators, adequate signage, retro-reflective tags, directional boards, and anti-crash barriers.
Recurring issue in Mumbai?
Much has been said about recent infrastructural developments in Mumbai — as a growing list of flyovers face structural or design flaws. Perhaps the biggest example would be the Gokhale bridge fiasco that went viral in February 2024. A section of its foot overbridge had collapsed onto railway tracks amid heavy rain in July 2018 — exposing several design flaws and leaving multiple people injured. The main bridge was eventually closed for reconstruction in November 2022 after an audit flagged glaring concerns.
It was partially reopened in February 2024 but instantly faced heat due to misalignment with the CD Barfiwala flyover. Former BMC Commissioner IS Chahal had noted during the inauguration that the height of Gokhale Bridge needed to be increased by a whopping 1.5 metres in order to make sure the two roads connected.