[ninjatalli]

The nearly 190-year-old Amrutanjan Bridge on the Mumbai - Pune expressway was demolished on Sunday evening through multiple controlled blasts. The British-era bridge had been in a state of disuse for several years, but had become an iconic structure for motorists using the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhuCpoTnjc

The bridge was opened on November 10, 1830, as a key connector between Mumbai and Pune. It had later served as the third line for the Railways on the Bor ghat section to reverse engines, but was later stopped after more power engines were introduced. While the MSRDC had received permission from agencies to demolish the bridge in 2017, the high volume of traffic on the expressway gave them no window to execute this project.

MSRDC had started drilling into the piers to fit explosives on Sunday morning, holes had been drilled in 15 to 20 locations on each of the six piers. With simultaneous detonation, the bridge was brought down at 6.20 p.m. The demolition was carried out by Navayuga Engineering, which is building the tunnels for the ₹5,300 crore project.


Before


After

MSRDC will clear the rubble along with stones in the coming week and also fix any damage that may have been caused to the expressway. After the permission for the demolition was granted on March 31, the highway safety patrol (HSP) announced a traffic diversion from April 4 to 14. The Pune-bound vehicles were diverted to kilometre number 44, also known as Anda point, through Khandala and Lonavala. The traffic toward Mumbai was diverted to kilometre number 55 at Lonavala exit via Lonavala and Khandala, and later to join the expressway at Anda point. The diversion of vehicles would be called off before April 14 if the clearing of the debris was done before that.

Sources: Link1, Link2

[itwasntme]

I'm not the best judge having last driven on the MPEW in my Tata Indica 2000 LEi way back in 2002(!), but I clearly remember the sharp turns when negotiating this bridge. The articulated trucks then were all the AL & Tata underpowered ones, and used to struggle at the apex irritating LMV drivers.

I can only imagine how crowded it must have got 18 years later - am glad they pulled it down.

[vivek95]

Demolished for valid reasons but I am little sad. This was an iconic bridge and the very sight of it from a distance whilst crawling in the slow moving traffic, snaking below this bridge added to the thrill and beautiful experience of driving on Mumbai--Pune Expressway each and every single time. Personally, I am always jinxed with this Amrutanjan bridge point. 9 out of 10 times I get stuck in the 15--20 mins long traffic snarl here while driving from Mumbai to Pune but somehow the nearly two century old solid bridge standing tall used to amaze me and intimidate me while passing below it. I am going to miss this experience badly :(

[rst89]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

…..
The bridge was opened on November 10, 1830, as a key connector between Mumbai and Pune. It had later served as the third line for the Railways on the Bor ghat section to reverse engines, but was later stopped after more power engines were introduced.
...

Just one correction.
The train reversal at Bhor ghats was no longer used not due to power engines but due to realignment done by railway engineers by constructing new tunnels. There is enough history on reversal of engines being done in Bhor ghats and new realignment.

This old bridge has a marble plaque mentioning the year of construction. This was an important part of heritage of Bhor Ghats. I hope people noticed it as anyway everyone crawls here due to heavy trucks.

[rajvardhanraje]

Having commuted on the Mumbai-Pune expressway on a regular basis for more than a decade, this is a much welcome step. The Amrutanjan bridge was the only Achilles heel of an otherwise excellent expressway. I cannot recall the number of times I got stuck in a traffic jam preceding the bridge. Sometimes it would span up to a few kilometers. It was a very common sight to see an age old truck or some bus breaking down just before the bridge. On my way home from Mumbai, every time I crossed this section, I would breathe a sigh of relief. It became some sort of a milestone.

Awaiting the upcoming tunnel which would bypass the ghat section. It will bring down the overall commute time significantly.

[Dieseltuned]

Deeply saddened, this was an icon of a structure and of great heritage value for Indian railways from the erstwhile GIPR. Why we Indians are so poor at prevailing and maintaining our heritage ? Was it so difficult for the road engineers to work around the structure ?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by rst89

Just one correction.
The train reversal at Bhor ghats was no longer used not due to power engines but due to realignment done by railway engineers by constructing new tunnels. There is enough history on reversal of engines being done in Bhor ghats and new realignment.

Thanks!

This old bridge has a marble plaque mentioning the year of construction. This was an important part of heritage of Bhor Ghats.

The linked articles talk of MSRDC retaining the plaque at the venue; it won't be removed.

Originally Posted by vivek95

9 out of 10 times I get stuck in the 15--20 mins long traffic snarl here while driving from Mumbai to Pune but somehow the nearly two century old solid bridge standing tall used to amaze me and intimidate me while passing below it. I am going to miss this experience badly :(

The jams used to occur due to two reasons; slow moving trucks moving at reduced speeds due to the inclined road & multiple ~180 deg turns over the last ~2 kms, hogging one or more of the lanes; and faster vehicles (read:cars) trying to play GTA admist these trucks; causing these trucks to even go slower as they have to focus on braking too to give way.

I doubt the snarls will reduce going ahead with this bridge removed. But the bridge removal was a step in the right direction.

[itwasntme]

What's the plan once the tunnel opens? Will they make it one way to smoothen out the traffic, i.e. all 4 lanes on the existing route can be unidirectional. The tunnel can handle the other direction.

Looks like the tunnels will be bidirectional so will the existing alignment become like a Banihal Pass relic to be used only by locals?

Maybe, one of the TBHP experts can comment on this.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

What's the plan once the tunnel opens? Will they make it one way to smoothen out the traffic, i.e. all 4 lanes on the existing route can be unidirectional.

The tunnel being bored is twin tube with each tube having 5 lanes. There will be 4 usable lanes and a bi-lane for broken down vehicles at either end.
The old highway will be diverted on to this alignment and will use the ghat once the tunnel is ready.


Rahul

[SS-Traveller]

So an almost-200-year-old heritage structure gets pulled down because some unthinking engineer decided to design & build an expressway in a faulty manner some 18 years ago. How tough was it to reorient the expressway to clear up this bottleneck, without pulling down the bridge? They make enough money on the toll anyway.

[vharihar]

See:

https://youtu.be/W1gEfBNvfsQ

This is a better video. What's especially amazing is the precision. The old NH4 overpass that's just adjacent to the Amrutanjan bridge and that also crosses the expwy, was left intact. Fantastic!

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

So an almost-200-year-old heritage structure gets pulled down because some unthinking engineer decided to design & build an expressway in a faulty manner some 18 years ago. How tough was it to reorient the expressway to clear up this bottleneck, without pulling down the bridge? They make enough money on the toll anyway.

Exactly my point in post above. Stupidity rules in our country and there is no regard for our heritage. The original road decision was flawed to make all the vehicles navigate under this bridge, the tunnels they are talking about now could have been properly thought of 18 years back.

[GTO]

In peak hours, the bridge caused a headache while climbing up the ghat as vehicles would pretty much block both lanes. When coming down however, it was sheer bliss . During my early morning test-drives, I would always take the single lane (on the right). Tight & technical...and toward the end, bury the pedal into the metal for the perfect exit . I'm telling you, this entire Lonavla ghat's descent was designed by an F1 enthusiast.

Here's a screenshot of that from the video vharihar shared (lane where the 2 tankers are waiting):

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by vharihar

This is a better video. What's especially amazing is the precision. The old NH4 overpass that's just adjacent to the Amrutanjan bridge and that also crosses the expwy, was left intact. Fantastic!

That music and the video !! It makes me too emotional. I am an avid fan of Mumbai--Pune expressway as a road and Formula 1 motorsport. So, as our admin GTO said, this road indeed is a driver's delight and Amrutanjan bridge was an integral part of our drives. I am disappointed to see it go down like that, but I am sure this has been done for a greater good. I am so glad, I was connected to this bridge over my umpteen drives on the Expressway and now I am left with memories to cherish forever. Thank God I have my own videos ( and not the youtube ones ). The bridge stood the test of time and unknowingly made a place in our hearts. RIP Amrutanjan bridge :(

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

So an almost-200-year-old heritage structure gets pulled down because some unthinking engineer decided to design & build an expressway in a faulty manner some 18 years ago. How tough was it to reorient the expressway to clear up this bottleneck, without pulling down the bridge?

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

Exactly my point in post above. Stupidity rules in our country and there is no regard for our heritage. The original road decision was flawed to make all the vehicles navigate under this bridge, the tunnels they are talking about now could have been properly thought of 18 years back.

Not so fast please. I worked for many years in the PPP infrastructure developer sector (not on the MPEW though), and can state that the original design did consider the twin tunnels linking Khopoli & Lonavla along with numerous other alignment options. These options had multiple interlinked planning & design issues which were widely researched and thought over. It was not due to an 'unthinking engineer' or because 'stupidity rules'.

On this specific 'Amrutanjan Bridge' alignment, the key factors considered were:
1. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation ('MSRDC'), the developer could not gain approval for the Viability Gap Funding ('VGF') to fund the same.
2. From a technical point of view it was also deemed too time consuming to take up this particular tunnelling scheme.
3. Ministry of Forests clearance then was not assured with more than 5K fully grown trees slated to be chopped down.
4. Needless to say, the terrain was also a constraining factor along with the adjoining Indian Railway lines
5. The 'overlapping' of the dense traffic-prone old Mumbai-Pune highway (NH4/NH48) on the ridgeline.

All these factors 'conspired' to make this point a bottleneck made worse by the overloaded HCVs and inability of both HCVs & LMVs to maintain correct driving technique and etiquette on this narrow stretch.

At the end of the day, my personal take is that the Amrutanjan Bridge was no major architectural masterpiece but only a viaduct style brick railway bridge without any major uniqueness about it. It forced insanely narrow lanes with sharp curves coupled with a steep incline on both sides. There have been numerous fatal accidents and/or massive traffic jams at this spot also contributed to a reluctance to use the MPEW (those who can afford it).

For reference a few GMaps screenshots below: