Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alongwith Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday (January 26) inaugurated the northbound carriage of the bow-string bridge, which connects the Mumbai Coastal Road to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL). From Monday, the Coastal Road will be open for vehicular traffic from 7 AM to 12 AM. This will reduce travel time between Bandra and Marine Drive. The new route means that the journey will take only 10 minutes.
This is sure to make commute faster and efficient for thousands of Mumbaikars
Alongwith CM and Dy CM, Minister for Information and Technology Ashish Shelar and Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mangal Prabhat Lodha were also present at the time of inauguration.
"The permissions for the project were secured during the first term of the Mahayuti government, with the majority of the construction work beginning in the second term. Currently, around 95% of the project has been completed, and the remaining work will be finished during the current tenure of the Mahayuti government," said Fadnavis.
"Credit is not something one asks for - Mumbaikars have seen who truly completed the project," he added, taking a dig at Maha Vikas Aghadi without naming it.
The bridge connecting the Coastal Road to the BWSL, stretches 827 meters in total length out of which 699 metres are over the sea. The approach road is 128 metres in length.
Key features of this bridge include the set of bow arch string girders, weighing 2,400 tonnes. Each girder is 143 meters long, 27 meters wide, and 31 meters high.
The overall Coastal Road spans 10.58 kilometres, running from the Princess Street Flyover at Marine Drive to the Worli end of the Sea Link. The remaining section of the Coastal Road, including the 7.5-kilometer continuous promenade from Priyadarshini Park at Breach Candy to the Worli end of the Sea Link, is expected to be completed by May this year.
In addition, three interchanges (two at Worli and one at Haji Ali), along with median development and car parking lots, are expected to be finished by the end of 2025. Work on 70 hectares of open spaces is expected to take another two years, said a senior civic official.
The Coastal Road project was opened in phases since March 2024. On September 12, 2024, the connector linking the Coastal Road to the Sea Link was inaugurated, and it was opened for the traffic the following day. The ambitious project commenced in October 2018 with a total cost of Rs. 13,983 crore. The road has reduced travel time by 70% and fuel consumption by 34%, claims BMC.
