Highly placed sources in the National Highway department say that the repairs would cost Rs 60 lakhs, a reasonable amount, considering that ``its poor riding quality and the consequent slow vehicular movement cost the State exchequer Rs 10 lakh a day''. Besides, as sources said, ``tomorrow, the costs would have gone up''.

According to sources, the 49-year-old bridge was constructed to bear 10,000 passengers car units (PCUs), though only 2,000 private and commercial vehicles moved on it daily five decades ago. Today, the figure is nearer 75,000, besides 32,000 heavy vehicles and 20,000 trucks and buses. Damage was inevitable; some points of the bridge was found to be on the verge of collapse. An official survey carried out last year reportedly alarmed the Union Ministry of Surface Transport, with officials pointing out that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch was the busiest part of NH8, next only to the Mumbai-Pune and Calcutta-Durgapur stretches among all the national highways.

The inspection revealed that the three-inch asphalt coat had been eroded severely, allowing water to penetrate the underlying slabs. Damage was also detected in a more than a dozen joint slabs of the bridge.

The existing bituminous coat of the bridge will be entirely replaced, while the cracks will be sealed with Epoxy resin material. The compression seal type joints will replace the existing metallic expansion types. Besides, for the first time in the country, a 4 mm-thick stress-absorbing, water-proof pads would be placed on the bridge in addition to the 40-mm layer of asphalt, according to executive engineer Sandeep Vasava and his deputy J D Shah. To take care of traffic while the repairs are underway, detour routes have been laid via Umeta bridge or Mujpur and Vadsar bridges for traffic coming from Ahmedabad. The officials have reportedly put up more than 40 signboards, warning drivers of the diversions and asking them to avoid the Ahmedabad-Vasad route.