Welcome to the gridlock! Starting February, the city’s arterial bridge at Prabhadevi—connecting Dr Ambedkar Road in the east to Senapati Bapat Road in the west, crossing over Parel and Prabhadevi stations—will be closed for traffic, not just for a few days but for over two years for reconstruction. The closest alternative routes, Tilak Bridge at Dadar and the newly opened Delisle Road Bridge at Lower Parel, will bear the brunt of the additional traffic. With Sion bridge already shut, this closure is expected to worsen traffic congestion in the area.

The bridge is being replaced by a two-deck structure, with the lower deck retaining east-west connectivity and the upper deck linking it to the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu. The MMRDA has proposed constructing a 4.5-km elevated road, allowing vehicles from the Atal Setu to directly reach Worli and travel onwards to South Mumbai or Bandra. The work over the railway lines will be executed by the Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (MahaRail or MRIDC), which will construct a two-storey bridge over the tracks.