Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Tuesday clarified that the Chimanbhai Patel Railway Overbridge was structurally safe after photographs and videos purportedly showing a crack on the bridge went viral on social media.The civic body’s bridge project department said the feature visible in the photographs was not a structural crack but an expansion joint — a standard engineering component designed to accommodate movement in a bridge caused by changes in temperature.According to the AMC, the department received a complaint on social media regarding damaged paver blocks and what appeared to be a crack on the footpath and curb of the bridge connecting the Ranip and Sabarmati areas. Following the complaint, AMC officials, along with the bridge’s consultant, conducted a joint site inspection.“The location shown in the complaint is the bridge’s expansion joint, which is incorporated during construction to allow safe expansion and contraction of the superstructure due to temperature variations,” an AMC official said.The corporation explained that the visible gap in the paver blocks and railing panels was a result of the normal movement of the expansion joint and not indicative of any structural damage. Officials said no defects were found in critical structural components such as the girders, deck slab or piers during the inspection.AMC added that the issue was limited to the footpath and curb near the expansion joint, where repair work has already begun.The clarification comes amid heightened public sensitivity over bridge safety after recent infrastructure failures in different parts of the country, with images of the bridge circulating widely on social media.Meanwhile, the Chimanbhai Patel Railway Overbridge was also slated for a major capacity upgrade. In Feb 2025, the AMC’s road and building committee approved a Rs 267.30 crore for constructing a parallel bridge alongside the existing overbridge and a new flyover at Panchvati Junction.The two projects were initially tendered separately but were later merged into a single contract. The final approved tender was Rs 267.30 crore, about Rs 41 crore higher than the combined estimated cost of Rs 226 crore.
