Bellasis Bridge to beat deadline by 6 months?

In a city increasingly defined by traffic gridlock, bridges are rising — sleek, soaring and reshaping the way Mumbai moves. The BMC has more than 20 bridges in the pipeline. In this series, HT examines these bridges, their costs, their impact and how they will transform commuting in Maximum City

- Sabah Virani

Mumbai: In a city teeming with unfinished infrastructure work and missed deadlines, the Bellasis Bridge in south Mumbai is a stark rarity.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is confident that it will complete the reconstruction of the over-a-century-old bridge not just by its June 2026 deadline, but six months before it.

Among the several British-era bridges being dismantled and rebuilt in Mumbai, the Bellasis Bridge—built in 1893 and named after British Major General John Bellasis—passes over the railway tracks at Mumbai Central, connecting Nagpada in the east to Tardeo in the west.

Over 130 years after its construction, a structural audit by the BMC in 2018 found that it was dilapidated. Much to the chagrin of the 25,000 to 30,000 motorists who used it daily, the civic body said the bridge would have to be demolished and reconstructed.