Mumbai: CM Eknath Shinde Instructs BMC To Open One Arm Of Coastal Road & Bandra-Worli Sea Link By July End

Mumbai: The chief minister, Eknath Shinde, instructed the BMC to open one arm of the Mumbai coastal road and Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) connector by the end of July. The northbound carriageway of the coastal road from Marine Drive to Haji Ali was opened for traffic on June 10. Meanwhile, work on the entire stretch of the road is expected to be completed only by October.

Shinde, accompanied by the municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and other civic officials, visited the southbound carriageway of the coastal road on Friday at midnight. While interacting with the media he said, "The launching of two 'Bowarch String' girders to connect coastal roads and BWSL has been completed. After completing the remaining work, the two lanes (south and north) from Marine Drive to the connector will be open for traffic by the end of July. A span of 120 metres for boats has been provided, so that the fisherfolk do not have to face any inconvenience."

He also said that the route on the coastal road extending up to Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk in Worli will be opened by July 10. A total of 20,450 cars used the north-bound tunnel of the Mumbai coastal road on the first day of its opening to motorists on Tuesday.

This section of the road is operational till Haji Ali where just four of the eight interchanger arms are operational. "Since the work on the remaining portion of the road is being carried out on weekends and after midnight, the north-bound road is operational only on weekdays from 7am to 11pm," said a civic official.

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%.