Looks like the?British-era railway bridge popularly known as the Amurtanjan Bridge (named after a pain-relief balm) didn't live up to it's name.?
For years, the Amurtanjan Bridge was nothing less than a headache for commuters - it caused severe traffic snarls, its huge pillars were obstructing vehicular movement and it even caused quite a few accidents.?
Now, it's gone.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has issued a statement that controlled blasting was used for the demolition of the British-era bridge.?
The MSRDC took advantage of the lockdown caused by coronavirus, and demolished the long-standing bridge. According to a Times Of India report, the?rubble will be cleared in 4 days for which 1200 truck?trips will be made.?
"The entire Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which is around 100 km, has six lanes. But the wide pillars of the Amrutanjan bridge had made some stretch near it a four-lane road," a senior MSRDC official told PTI.?
"The pillars had occupied the space of an entire lane on both the sides, which used to would slow down the traffic," the official added.
"The bridge would have completed 190 years in November this year. But since it was causing a hindrance to the traffic on the expressway, it was demolished using explosives," he said.
Engineers involved in the demolition drive told TOI, that the lockdown helped the cost come down to just Rs 50 lakh. If the demolition were to take place amid live traffic, the costs could have gone up to a whopping Rs 4 crore.?
Officials said that the bridge was a four-lane structure standing in the middle of a six-lane expressway and this what caused massive traffic jams. The authorities are hopeful that post the lockdown period, traffic movement on the expressway will be a lot smoother.?