India, May 8 -- In the hope of easing the traffic logjam in the eastern suburbs, yet another British-era bridge-the busy Ghatkopar rail over bridge (ROB)-is set to bite the dust and get replaced by a new, wider overpass. But with its initial deadline of end-2025 being forwarded to a distant June 2027, commuters are riding their hopes on the east-west crossing bridge being built at the adjacent stations of Vidyavihar and Vikhroli.

The 78-year-old Ghatkopar ROB came under the BMC's scrutiny after the Gokhale Bridge mishap, prompting structural audits of bridges all over Mumbai by IIT-Bombay in 2018. On finding it overloaded and in need of major repairs, the work on its reconstruction was given to the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Develop...