Alert Mumbaikars! Andheri's Barfiwala flyover reopens after 7 years — but what awaits at the end might ruin your drive

When Andheri’s C D Barfiwala flyover, linked to the Gokhale bridge, fully reopens on May 15 after nearly seven years, motorists hoping for a smoother commute might be in for a disappointment. At the western end, the ride will hit a bottleneck due to a pit dug up for the construction of another flyover—the JVPD flyover—ahead.

Those driving in from the east will have to move onto the service road through a narrow, single-lane passage between the end of the Barfiwala flyover and the pit in order to head toward Juhu.

And this situation may persist for the next three years—the estimated time for completion of the JVPD flyover. It’s not the first hurdle in the area. In fact, even last year, the Gokhale bridge was ready for reopening after a major reconstruction (it had partially collapsed in 2018, killing two people), but it couldn't be opened because it wasn't aligned with the east-bound arm of the Barfiwala flyover, reported Richa Pinto for The Times of India.


The Barfiwala flyover, which drew attention last year for its misalignment with the Gokhale bridge, is now finally set for full opening. But at its western end, vehicles will have to take a sharp 90-degree left turn to move toward Juhu, as the road directly ahead is currently excavated for the JVPD flyover’s takeoff. Making matters worse, traffic from the road beneath the flyover also converges at that same junction.

“Unless this issue is addressed on a war footing, the much-anticipated opening of Phase 2 of the Gokhale bridge risks being overshadowed by chaos, as motorists will be forced to detour via S V Road—undermining the very purpose of expedited, seamless east-west connectivity,” said Dhaval Shah, director of the Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen's Association, told TOI.

BMC officials, when contacted by TOI, said the JVPD flyover had been planned in advance and that space has been allocated for vehicles exiting Barfiwala flyover.

The pedestrian section of the Gokhale bridge had collapsed on July 3, 2018, killing two people and injuring three. The bridge was then closed to all traffic on November 7, 2022, due to poor structural health, leading to the closure of Barfiwala flyover as well, since it landed directly on the bridge.

While the first arm of the Gokhale bridge reopened on February 26, 2024, the Barfiwala flyover remained shut because of a significant gap between the two structures. On April 14, 2024, the BMC’s bridges department, under guidance from experts at IIT-Bombay and VJTI, began realignment work. By July 4, 2024, BMC completed partial alignment and opened the Juhu–Andheri (East) stretch of the Barfiwala flyover to light vehicles.

However, Juhu resident Zoru Bhathena pointed out that traffic below the bridge is already heavy and once the Gokhale-Barfiwala link towards the west opens, congestion is likely to worsen.

Calling the Barfiwala flyover "jinxed" after years of delays and missteps, Andheri resident Minoo Sukhia told TOI, “The new alignment is expected to worsen traffic congestion rather than ease it.”

The 1.6-km JVPD flyover—which begins ahead of the Barfiwala flyover and ends near JVPD—began construction in October 2024, and is expected to be completed in three years.

“This JVPD bridge will make the commute smooth from Western Express Highway (WEH) to JVPD and then onto the proposed coastal road-north,” a BMC official said.

With inputs from ToI