Large cracks have appeared on Subhash Bridge across the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, close to the Gandhi Ashram. Built in 1973, this bridge, named after Subhash Chandra Bose, connects the eastern and western parts of the city and is located close to major commercial areas. The four-lane bridge has sidewalks for pedestrians, and is vital for access to Ashram Road, Ellis Bridge, Gandhinagar and the Sabarmati Railway Station.
Several bus routes are over this bridge, which also serves as a viewpoint for the Sabarmati Riverfront, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There are news reports that a portion of the span sank.
What is worrying is that the civic authorities have announced that the bridge would be shut for five days – the photographs of the cracks and a video of the span that has sunk indicate serious damage that could imperil lives; instead of announcing that the bridge would be repaired, the government might be well advised to consider demolition of the structure – it poses a risk to commuters. The bridge is estimated to be used by several thousands of vehicles each day, and any stress to an already fragile structure could put hundreds of lives at risk.
As part of the riverfront development project, an 11-km stretch on both sides of the Sabarmati was first reclaimed as land; eight-metre retaining walls were constructed; the fluid edge of the river was laid down in hard lines of concrete. Historically, as Mansee Lal Bharghava and Parth Patel pointed out in a Counterview article, the river bed in dry seasons served as a community space – kite festivals and cattle fairs were held there, and even Gandhi saw it as a space for democracy in action. Bernard Kohn, a French architect who lived in Ahmedabad in the 1960s, was the first to conceptualize a riverfront project design; he was, however, aghast at the design conceptualized by Bimal Patel that was approved decades later.
With the river’s edge now frozen in concrete, it appears that the bridge, meant to stand frozen in time, might be melting into the river. The state and Union governments may be wise to not attempt repairs, if demolition might be the safer course of action. The bridge was last shut for repairs in 2019.
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*Freelance journalist
What is worrying is that the civic authorities have announced that the bridge would be shut for five days – the photographs of the cracks and a video of the span that has sunk indicate serious damage that could imperil lives; instead of announcing that the bridge would be repaired, the government might be well advised to consider demolition of the structure – it poses a risk to commuters. The bridge is estimated to be used by several thousands of vehicles each day, and any stress to an already fragile structure could put hundreds of lives at risk.
As part of the riverfront development project, an 11-km stretch on both sides of the Sabarmati was first reclaimed as land; eight-metre retaining walls were constructed; the fluid edge of the river was laid down in hard lines of concrete. Historically, as Mansee Lal Bharghava and Parth Patel pointed out in a Counterview article, the river bed in dry seasons served as a community space – kite festivals and cattle fairs were held there, and even Gandhi saw it as a space for democracy in action. Bernard Kohn, a French architect who lived in Ahmedabad in the 1960s, was the first to conceptualize a riverfront project design; he was, however, aghast at the design conceptualized by Bimal Patel that was approved decades later.
With the river’s edge now frozen in concrete, it appears that the bridge, meant to stand frozen in time, might be melting into the river. The state and Union governments may be wise to not attempt repairs, if demolition might be the safer course of action. The bridge was last shut for repairs in 2019.
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*Freelance journalist
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