The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched the girders for the Bow-String arch, linking the coastal road to the Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL), in just one hour and twenty-five minutes overnight between Thursday and Friday, The Indian Express reported.
As per the officials, the process to launch the girders started at around 2 am, taking advantage of moderate tidal conditions. Initially, the barge serving as the launch point was stabilised, followed by the erection and alignment of the arch-shaped structure with the two mating units. The whole process was completed by 3:25 am, with Municipal Commissioner and state-appointed administrator Bhushan Gagrani overseeing the operation.
The Vice Chairman of HCC, Arjun Dhawan, said this marks the first time a girder was launched in an open sea setting for an infrastructure project in the nation. HCC is the executing agency for the project.
The 136-metre-long girder weighs upto 2000 metric tonnes and is a prefabricated structure. It was manufactured in Haryana and was brought to the Nhava Sheva port in Navi Mumbai. It was assembled in Mumbai. Following this, the girders were transported from the port to the Worli work site in a barge.
Civic officials mentioned that the upcoming phase will involve concretisation works, followed promptly by the laying of asphalt roads. Upon the bridge’s completion, vehicles will have direct access to the coastal road from the BWSL.
Currently, the coastal road operates solely between 8 am and 8 pm on weekdays for south-bound traffic. Officials are striving to make the entire road fully operational by the end of May.