The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is reworking its road network to prevent traffic bottlenecks on the upcoming north phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, which will link Versova with Dahisar.
The civic body has charted plans to integrate at least ten key routes with the corridor, from realignments along the JVPD flyover to the Mrunaltai Gore bridge in the western suburbs.
The new coastal road between Versova and Dahisar is being built as an alternate north-south corridor to decongest the Western Express Highway, Linking Road and SV Road. But even with signal-free traffic on the main stretch, commuters face jams at the entry and exit points.
“Coastal road moves in one direction and is an example of linear development, where the entry and exits to the road are planned at one fixed point. Owing to the sole entry and exit locations, all traffic from feeder roads rush towards the coastal road junctions, leading to significant congestion in the area. This creates a bottleneck outside the coastal road, which ultimately also has an impact on the carrying capacity of the road,” said a senior BMC official.
To fix this, the BMC wants to give drivers multiple ways to get on and off the corridor, rather than funnelling everyone through a single point.
“To prevent crowding at sole entry and exit locations, we seek to give the drivers multiple options which will allow them to arrive in and out of coastal road in intermediate sections as well,” the official said.
Data accessed by The Indian Express shows that one key intervention is planned at the flyover over the Juhu-Vile Parle Development Scheme (JVPD). The flyover near the local self-government office will link to the Versova Link Road, which will then connect to the Versova Bandra Sea Link connector and, from there, to the coastal road.
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“It will enable commuters arriving from Gokhale bridge to reach CD Barfiwala flyover, from where the JVPD flyover will commence. Work on the project is underway and the project will enable direct connectivity from the VBSL Versova end point to Western Express Highway,” an official said.
The upcoming Versova-Madh bridge will also connect to the coastal road at the Madh interchange near Lokhandwala. From there, commuters can access the Western Express Highway, and the MMRDA is building an extended corridor towards the Jogeshwari Versova Link Road (JVLR).
Other planned interventions include connecting the coastal road near the Lokhandwala interchange to an arm of the Mrunaltai Gore flyover up to the Western Express Highway, and linking the upcoming Ramchandra Nullah bridge in Malad to the coastal road at the Mindspace interchange.
Additional connections are planned at the Charkop Interchange at Sector 8 with SV Road near Poisar junction, Link Road at the Gorai Interchange, the Dahisar connector, and the Kandarpada rotary.
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Beyond these link-ups, the BMC will also build a new 5.5-km high-speed corridor between Goregaon and Magathane. Running parallel to the Western Express Highway, it will connect the coastal road to the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road and give motorists direct access to the GMLR twin tunnels.
“We are planning all our ongoing projects as well as proposed plans in a holistic approach. These interventions seek to create multiple entries and exits to minimise traffic load on the main artery route,” a senior civic official said.
The approvals for these realignments were sought alongside permissions for the north coastal road works. Some have already received CRZ clearances and are under construction. Others are still awaiting environmental clearances.
“While some changes are on the alignment of the Coastal road, some portions are being carved separately now. All of these interventions are at different stages of implementations. Some of them have received CRZ approvals. Once they are given the administrative approvals, the plans will be tendered,” a senior official told The Indian Express.
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The north stretch spans 22.9 km in total. The first phase covers 4.5 km from Versova to Bangur Nagar, the second covers 3.12 km from Goregaon to Mindspace, and the third involves 3.9-km twin tunnels between Mindspace and Charkop. The fifth phase runs 3.78 km from Charkop to Gorai, and the final phase goes from Gorai to Dahisar.
