Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is set to demolish the 49-year-old railway overbridge (ROB) in Chinchwad soon and construct a new one in its place, after receiving necessary clearances from railway authorities. The railway bridge was declared unsafe for commuters last year, following which it was also closed for commuters. The demolition will happen in the coming four to five months.A senior civic official said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh on Friday, asked the estimates committee to prepare an estimate for the project cost, following which tenders will be floated. “We received a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from railways for the project. Besides, as per the procedure, the design of the new structure has to be approved by railway authorities and that is also done, hence we can now proceed with our own procedure to demolish the existing structure and build a new one,” he said.The existing bridge, built in 1976, connects the old Mumbai–Pune highway stretch via Mahavir Chowk to Chinchwad Gaon. Currently, the traffic movement on this route has been diverted to the parallel bridge built in 2004.PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh said, “The old ROB served the city for nearly five decades, but expert assessments and citizen feedback made it clear that a new structure is needed. With Railways’ approval, PCMC is moving forward with a modern bridge that will restore convenience for residents and ensure long-term safety.”A senior PCMC official said that the structural audit of the existing structure was conducted in 2021 and it was subsequently reviewed by Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering in 2022. Though it was recommended by the auditors that the bridge be demolished, it was considered safe for light vehicles, and the movement of heavy vehicles was banned by installing height restrictors at the entry points.Earlier in November last year, the railway authorities also wrote to PCMC about the unsafe bridge, but according to civic officials, they allowed the movement of light vehicles to continue until a decision on demolition was taken. However, only in March this year, when a small portion of the slab structure collapsed and citizens raised concerns over the safety of the structure, the bridge was closed for all types of vehicles.
