Mumbai: Declared unsafe in 2014, 19th-century Carnac Bridge might soon be demolished, say official sources

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The proposed demolition of the Carnac Bridge at Masjid Bunder in Mumbai for reconstruction might be carried out soon, said official sources. This development comes almost eight years after the structure was first declared unsafe.

Between 2014, when the bridge was identified as unsafe and was closed for heavy vehicles, and August 19 this year, when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finally received a no-objection certificate from the traffic police for demolition, the project hit several roadblocks, said sources in the BMC Bridges department.

In the meantime, its fate got linked to the Hancock Bridge, the only other bridge that provides east-west connectivity in south Mumbai. The traffic police had earlier refused to give permission to carry out reconstruction work of the two bridges together, officials from the Bridges department said. If both bridges had remained un-operational, commuters would have had to take a much longer route via DN Road and P D’mello Road to get to the east side from Fort or Masjid Bunder. Reopening of the newly-constructed Hancock Bridge at Sandhurst Road for traffic on August 1 this year paved the way for the authorities to take up the demolition of Carnac.