Mumbai’s New Carnac Bridge Set to Open Next Week: 4-Lane Steel Structure to Ease South Mumbai Traffic

The old Carnac Bridge was demolished in November 2022. Next week, a new Carnac Bridge will be inaugurated. The bridge was demolished after a crucial audit that stated it was no longer safe for people to travel. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had announced that the construction work will conclude by June 15, and soon the bridge will become operational after that. The Carnac Bridge is located at a short distance from Masjid Railway Station and connects to P. D'Mello Road. The Carnac Bridge is crucial for traffic movement in South Mumbai, particularly in the CSMT, Masjid Bunder, and Mohammed Ali Road areas; hence, after it was demolished, the authorities directly started construction of a new bridge.

Speaking with The Indian Express, the Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), Abhijit Bangar, said, “The construction of the bridge is almost completed, and we carried out a load test between June 13 and 15. We have asked the traffic police to carry out an inspection and give their inputs about the bridge, which is a routine process, and have also written to the railways asking for their NOC since the bridge passes above railway tracks. We expect the clearances to come by this week and hope to open the bridge by the start of next week.”

The cost of building the new bridge is approximately Rs 60 crore. This new bridge will be a structure made of steel. The total length of the bridge is 328 meters, with 70 meters falling under the railway’s jurisdiction. The total length of approach roads under BMC is 230 meters - 130 meters to the east and 100 meters to the west.

This new structure will have four vehicular lanes that will allow smooth traffic flow. The 125-year-old structure, before demolition, had only 2 lanes. The new bridge will be capable of holding double the traffic flow that the old bridge did. The new bridge is equipped with modern-day signage and lighting. Once this bridge is operational, traffic will decongest a little in South Mumbai.

Speaking about the challenges faced by the authorities in the construction of this new bridge, Bangar told IE, “Initially, we faced several hurdles when the project was in the ideation stage, resulting in a delay of many years. At present, these projects are on track, and work is going on in full swing. The bridges will bring down the traffic woes in the suburbs and the island city to a significant level.”

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The six basalt stones that have inscriptions in Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, and English will be restored and retained on the new bridge, said civic officials. The construction work of the old Carnac Bridge began in 1858 and the work concluded in 1868, according to the original inscriptions. Together with a "anchor," which officials said was a representation of success and prosperity brought about by marine trade, the stones bore the bridge's name etched in four different languages. After city officials found these stones among the bridge's debris, they were temporarily stored inside the CSMT railway station.

“The Carnac bridge has a rich past, and the bridge belongs to the BMC. Therefore, the stones ideally should be there. We have identified a spot on the bridge where these stones will be kept as a memoir of its past,” Bangar said.