Mahim flyover slab falls, lucky escape for cops

Two flyover-related incidents were reported in the city on Wednesday. It was a lucky escape for traffic police constables and vehicular traffic below the 
Mahim flyover across the causeway after a pre-cast slab panel for beautification over a structural gap between its up and down arms connecting the Sealink and Bandra East, snapped in the evening.
Meanwhile, Mumbai traffic police shut traffic on the Kemps Corner flyover in south Mumbai for under an hour after the mastic on the steel plates fell off the bridge. There were no injuries.
We therefore will be placing it back. The bridge has no other problems and the structural audit done also shows that it is stable.” The bridge was constructed around five decades ago.
As a result of the inspection, traffic congestion was reported in parts of south Mumbai. The bridge was thrown open around 3.40pm and the congestion eased. “A motorist called up the Gamdevi police station on noticing a gap in the bridge structure. Our officers shut traffic on the bridge for 40 minutes so that technical experts could check it.
The fire brigade was summoned as were civic engineers. They said the structure is currently safe for use, following which it was thrown open for traffic,” said DCP (traffic south) Pradnya Jedge.
At Mahim, MSRDC chief engineer and chief general manager for toll collection, Prashant Auti, said the precast slab that fell has nothing to do with structural stability. “These slabs were put to create a flowerbed between the two arms of the flyover as part of beautification. Flower pots were kept above them,” he said. “Now, we have directed the administration to remove all precast structures to avoid such incidents.”