Fisherwomen in AC double-decker buses and vintage cars were the first travellers on the Coastal Road. The 10.58 km-long southern part of the stretch, whose total length is 14 km with interchanges, is being built at the cost of Rs 13,983 crore. The southbound 9-km lanes from Worli to Marine Lines will be open to the general public at 8 am on Tuesday and remain open on weekdays during the daytime.

Also Read: Mumbai Coastal Road project: Here's all you need to know

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The partially open southbound stretch of the Coastal Road on Monday. Pic/Shadab Khan

The Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), officially called the Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Coastal Road, was partially inaugurated Monday by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar along with several MLAs. Ashwini Bhide, additional civic commissioner assured that the entire project would be completed within the next three months.

BMC officials claim the travel time from Worli to Marine Lines will be reduced to 9 to 10 minutes from 30 to 40  minutes. The road will be toll-free.

Gravelly paths

The lanes from Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk in Worli are half done. The road requires a final layer, otherwise gravel will start popping out once heavy traffic is seen. BMC says: The lanes from Worli to the entry of the tunnel are still not complete. Another layer will be piled on top of them and the work will complete soon.

Dust devils

Inside the tunnels, commuters not travelling in AC buses had to put up with a lot of dust, which was not only causing pollution but also low visibility. BMC says: The tunnels have a Saccardo ventilation system, which includes air jets that have a velocity of around 30 m/s. High-speed winds unsettled dust which created the issue on Monday. It won’t happen from Tuesday.

Lack of interchanges

There are three interchanges to make an entry and exit of the Coastal Road, at Amarsons Garden, Haji Ali and Worli Seaface for entry and exit points to the coastal road. But now only the Amarsons Garden interchange has started.

BMC says: The interchanges will start with the second phase. We will try to complete the work by May 2024.

Brief signal cycle length

As the interchanges at Worli are yet to be completed, commuters need to take a U-turn at a signal ahead of Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk when they emerge from the Bandra Worli Sea Link or Prabhadevi. The signal for the U-turn doesn’t stay green for too long, and this is bound to cause chaos. BMC says: This is for the time being until we open the interchange. We have requested the traffic police to intervene and increase signal duration.

Mobile connectivity

Despite the BMC’s assurance of mobile connectivity in the Coastal Road’s tunnels, signal issues were witnessed. BMC says: An agency has been finalised for network connectivity. The corporation will need to grant the service providers space to set up antennae and the BMC will earn revenue from this. The process is going on.

ExpertSpeak

A V Shenoy, a senior transport expert with the Mumbai Mobility Forum told mid-day, “We will not know the full effect of the Coastal Road as  it will be open from 8 am to 8 pm and closed on weekends. Also, only southbound traffic will be permitted on the route. But, surely, the major junctions on the old route will see an alleviation of traffic congestion as car users will opt for the Coastal Road. The Haji Ali junction which is a traffic hotspot will be seeing partial southbound traffic alleviation along with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Road, Pedder Road and other southbound routes from Worli to Marine Lines. Because of this, there may be some benefits on the old route but we will never know the full effect till the entire road is made open for commuters.”

He added, “Mainly car users will benefit. Even though BEST and ST services are permitted, I don’t think these transport services will be operating routes on it as these buses have to ply from one stop to the other and aren’t a point-to-point service. They [authorities] claim that BRTS (bus rapid transit system) will also run on these routes but unless we see this, we cannot be sure. A BRTS was run in Haji Ali around 15 years back for a few months and at BKC for two months and then was stopped. Private buses like Chalo and Cityflo, which are point-to-point service operators, will benefit from this route. Ola and Uber along with other car pick-up and drop services will also benefit.”

Inputs by Prasun Choudhari