It has been almost a month to the inauguration of Mumbai’s iconic coastal road and the residents of Breach Candy area have already started complaining about traffic congestion due to the incoming flow towards the interchange at Bhulabhai Desai road. The residents of Breach Candy have also alleged that the reclamation along the coastal road is not climate-friendly and is a waste of crores of rupees of public money.
Breach Candy Residents Forum Raises Concerns Over Traffic Surge from Coastal Road
Breach Candy Residents Forum, an Advance Locality Management (ALM) of the area in south Mumbai, has written to the traffic department about the issues faced by the residents due to the increase in traffic after the first phase of Dharmaveer Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj coastal road, connecting Marine Drive to Bandra, has been functional.
The 10.5 km long stretch, which was opened on March 11, has multiple interchanges and one of these is connected to the Bhulabhai Desai road in the Breach Candy area.
Breach Candy ALM's Efforts And Challenges In Addressing Traffic Issues Due To Coastal Road
The Breach Candy ALM, which includes around 450 buildings in the neighbourhood, has been working with the municipal corporation for waste collection, traffic and parking issues for the last four years. The earlier sea-facing locality that has now turned into coastal-road facing locality, attracts a lot of outside traffic due to well known temples and hospitals in the area, and is now struggling with traffic due to excess number of cars coming in from the coastal road.
“We are experiencing severe congestion on the Bhulabhai Desai road since it is very narrow at some parts and cannot be widened due to the buildings on the sides. The cars coming in from the coastal road have to take a u-turn from the St. Stephens Church and during the peak hours it takes more than 20 minutes to just take the u-turn, causing long traffic jams,” said a member of the Breach Candy ALM.
The residents have requested the traffic police department to install traffic lights on the road to manage the heavy flow of traffic but it could only be done after a few months of studying the traffic. “With the increasing traffic and less space to accommodate so many cars, it is the residents who have to suffer on a daily basis,” the ALM member added.
Residents Criticise Lack of Environmentally Friendly Planning In Coastal Road Reclamation
The residents are also unhappy with improper planning of the reclamation landscaping which according to them is not climate friendly. They have alleged that the green spaces shown during the project presentations have been turned into concretized lands and the entire reclamation, from Worli to Nepean Sea road, along the coastal road lacks enough green cover and proper tree shade.
A resident living on the Bhulabhai Desai road, said, “We have been in communication with the BMC since the reclamation plan was still on paper. It looked good in projection but it is completely a waste of the pblic's money as it is not useful. It is yet another concretized reclamation like the Marine Drive. We want to be the pride of Mumbai and the reclamation is capable of doing it, but it should not be at the expense of the environment.”
