The flyover narrows all of a sudden.
Credit: X
A video showing a newly constructed flyover narrowing midway from four lanes to two lanes in Mira-Bhayandar near Mumbai has gone viral on social media, raising questions over planning, traffic flow and public safety.
An aerial footage of the flyover went viral on social media with some users drawing parallels to the faulty design Rail Over Bridge that had a 90-degree turn in Bhopal. That structure had led to the suspension of seven engineers, including two chief engineers of the Public Works Department.
However, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which built the double decker flyover, on Tuesday claimed that the transition from four lanes to two lanes is planned and not a structural or design flaw, adding that it was because of space constraints.
Congress was quick to weigh in, targeting the BJP government.
The MMRDA defended itself saying the structure does not narrow down suddenly, and the transition from four lanes to two lanes was designed keeping in mind the width constraints and future planning requirements.
"As per planning, the flyover has been designed with two lanes for Bhayandar East and two future connecting lanes for Bhayandar West," the state-run authority said in a statement, adding that since the Bhayandar East arm comes first along the alignment, the four-lane configuration currently transitions into two lanes.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray also criticised MMRDA's response, saying people must not make fun of the authority and the team that designed this masterpiece.
"Next year, another MoU on teaching this design to other countries. The bridge will be complete by the timeline of everything else that was promised- 2047. What stupidity can lead to this spurt in such horrid designs- the 2 lanes, reducing from 4 suddenly and the MMRDA defending this stupid, if not corrupt practice," Thackeray said.
The former state minister said the authority could have designed a smoother transition into two lanes. Any such reduction of lanes is going to create chaos and traffic anyway, he added.