Mumbai has taken a notable stride in urban mobility with the early reopening of the Bellasis flyover, now renamed in honour of Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar, restoring a vital east-west connection that had been disrupted for nearly two years. Completed in just 15 months and six days—four months ahead of schedule—this infrastructure achievement underscores both streamlined project delivery and shifting priorities in metropolitan transport planning.
Stretching 333 metres between Tardeo, Nagpada and Mumbai Central, the newly christened flyover replaces a 130-year-old bridge that was structurally unsafe and demolished in 2024. The earlier structure had been declared unfit for service, severing a key link in south Mumbai’s urban fabric and contributing to chronic congestion on adjacent arterial roads.Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said coordinated efforts with railway authorities, traffic police, local ward offices and engineering teams enabled the rapid pace of construction, even as work was carried out over live railway tracks. The project also includes dedicated footpaths on both sides of the carriageway, signalling an incremental shift towards more inclusive transport infrastructure that accommodates pedestrians as well as vehicles.Urban planners say the flyover’s early delivery is significant not just as an engineering milestone, but as a catalyst for better intra-city connectivity. The structure is expected to ease bottlenecks on routes such as Jehangir Boman Behram Road (formerly Bellasis Road), Dr. Dadasaheb Bhadkamkar Marg (Grant Road) and Pathe Bapurao Marg, while reducing travel times for commuters navigating south Mumbai’s dense traffic matrix.
For decades, flyovers in Mumbai have played a central role in managing congestion on its crowded thoroughfares. Yet, they also reflect enduring challenges in balancing traffic decongestion with broader urban goals such as prioritising public transport, non-motorised mobility and equitable access. Historically, the city’s flyover networks have often drawn criticism for encouraging vehicle use without sufficiently integrating with mass transit systems.The Bellasis project also signals a shifting narrative in infrastructure governance. Early delivery—especially in a densely populated zone with logistical constraints—points to improved inter-agency collaboration and greater emphasis on project management discipline. Civic authorities have noted plans to open additional bridges and overpasses in the coming months, indicating a broader effort to tackle longstanding connectivity gaps across the city.Local residents and traders, who bore the brunt of the prolonged disruption, have welcomed the reopening as a relief for daily commutes and commercial movement. Yet sustainable urbanists caution that long-term solutions must look beyond flyovers alone—investing in public transit corridors, active mobility networks and demand-responsive traffic management to foster a more resilient and people-centred transport ecosystem.
With over two years of connectivity loss now reversed, the focus will likely shift to maximising the flyover’s utility while integrating it harmoniously with Mumbai’s evolving urban transport roadmap.
