The nearly 190-year-old British-era, Amrutanjan Bridge was demolished on Sunday evening through multiple controlled blasts. The bridge had been in a state of disuse for several years, but had become an iconic structure for motorists using the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
As per information, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) demolished the historic bridge to make the traffic between Mumbai and Pune smoother.
The bridge, which was built by the British in 1830, was causing traffic snarls and also caused several accidents on the route. The bridge has not been in use since a long time, but its pillars were coming in the way of the vehicular movement.
A senior MSRDC official remarked that the entire Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which is around 100 kms, has six lanes. But the wide pillars of the Amrutanjan Bridge had made some stretch near it a four-lane road. The pillars had occupied the space of an entire lane on both the sides, which used to would slow down the traffic.
Earlier, the Raigad district collector had given permission to the MSRDC to carry out the demolition work from April 4 to 14. Now that the bridge has been demolished, plans for long-pending structural changes on the road in this stretch can be executed.
