Ending the long wait of Mumbaikars, the toll-free Coastal Road's (phase 2) northbound carriageway from Marine Drive to Haji Ali was thrown open to traffic on Monday at 4pm. In a sweet surprise for the commuters, the 6.25-km stretch was opened for vehicular movement a day earlier. Previously, it was announced that phase 2 would start to operate from today (June 11) at 7am.
“Currently, the northbound arm will operate between Monday to Friday from 7am to 11pm. It will be shut on weekends to carry out the remaining work to connect the Coastal Road with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL),” said a civic official. The route extending up to Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk in Worli will be opened by July 10.
During the inaugural event, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “The Coastal Road has brought great relief to the citizens. Its tunnels have been built with advanced technology. The infrastructure will be connected to the BWSL by October. Once fully-operational, the Coastal Road will reduce travel time from 40-45 minutes to eight minutes.”
The CM also gathered information from the BMC engineers about the emergency response system. Telephones have also been provided at key spots along the Coastal Road so that authorities can swiftly connect with the control room in case of an emergency.
The newly-opened arm will ease traffic mainly from Rajni Patel Chowk near the old Lotus Cinema towards Worli and Bandra, Vatsalabai Desai Chowk (Haji Ali) towards Tardeo, Mahalaxmi and Pedder Road. The traffic can navigate using the interchanges at Amarsons Garden and Haji Ali.
Recently, the Rs13,984-crore project was caught in the eye of the storm due to leakage in the southbound tunnel in the last week of May. Also, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray targeted the government over the “delay” in opening the northbound carriageway. Constructed by the BMC, the 10.58-km Coastal Road stretches from Princess Street Flyover at Marine Drive to the Worli-end of the BWSL.
The northbound carriageway – between Worli and Marine Drive – was opened for traffic on March 12. The twin tunnels, each measuring 2.072 km, with an internal diameter of 11 metres, are being constructed between Priyadarshini Park and Girgaum Chowpatty. Comprising 4+4 lanes, the Coastal Road has slashed travel time by 70% and fuel consumption by 34%.
