Bandra Foot Overbridge

I had read about this foot over bridge, connecting Bandra east Kalanagar to Bandra west across the railway, crossing the Dharavi - Bandra road and the Western Express way, being thrown open for pedestrians. Often I have passed below it and talked about going over it, just to satisfy my curiosity of its route and extent.

One Sunday, Shami and I decided to make the trip. It was best to use public transport, so we hunted out the shortest route from Thane on the BEST website. We took a bus to Vikhroli depot and a connecting one to Kalanagar. We went across and saw the traffic below, a beautiful garden near the fly over. From above it looked like a well cared for garden, a rare sight in Mumbai.

The bridge is quite wide as it must be catering to the huge rush coming out of Bandra station towards the offices in Bandra-Kurla complex. It crosses the expressway, then curves along the offices to the west of the highway and on to the station.

Here it joins the old railway bridges. Now it is a problem for people like us , who just wanted to cross over without entering the platforms. We read a notice saying ' Do not enter without a valid ticket '. We took a chance and fortunately no TC came our way. There should be an independent bridge going across with connections to the old railway bridges going on to the platforms.

Another good thing seen on the bridge were a few benches with bucket seats kept at regular intervals for people to sit, if tired. These seats of plastic were in a very bad shape as most had their backs broken. This a problem seen everywhere---no funds for maintenance and a destructive mentality in the people. A public toilet is also available at the Kalanagar end though one dare not enter it !!