Mumbai Coastal Road: More than 20,000 vehicles traveled north on the first day of opening, know the details

The northern tunnel of Mumbai's Coastal Road was inaugurated for motorists on Tuesday. A total of 20,450 cars used it on the first day. According to media reports, 17,910 vehicles passed through this tunnel between 7 am and 8 pm on Wednesday. This underground tunnel starts from Marine Drive and takes motorists to Breach Candy. As the automatic vehicle counter has not been installed yet, it is currently being monitored manually.

According to the Jagran, the highest traffic was recorded on the first day with 2,080 cars between 7 pm and 8 pm on Tuesday. This was followed by 1,770 vehicles between 5 am and 6 pm and 1,650 between 6 pm and 7 pm. In comparison, 16,331 vehicles passed through the southern tunnel in March, the first day of operations.

The northern section of the road is currently only open up to Haji Ali, where only four of the eight interchanger arms are in use. The northbound road is only open on weekdays, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. According to the report, a BMC official stated that work on the remaining stretch of the road is taking place on weekends and after midnight, necessitating its closure at these times.

The entire stretch is expected to be complete by October. Currently, the north and southbound arms are being built in phases. BMC officials said the southbound arm, which connects Marine Drive to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL), will be fully operational by the end of July.

While the promenade around the coastal road will be ready soon, the wait for open spaces like jogging track, cycle track, butterfly garden, and other open-air facilities proposed by BMC will continue. Work on these facilities will begin after the monsoon and is expected to take at least another year or more to complete. The estimated cost of which is Rs 1,000 crore. Apart from this, the underground car parking space with a capacity of 1,857 is likely to be completed only by December 2025.

The Mumbai Coastal Road is a 10.6 km long high-speed corridor consisting of tunnels, vehicle interchanges, and bridges. The Mumbai Coastal Road cost Rs 13,983.8 crore to build. This includes a construction cost of Rs 9,383.7 crore and other administrative charges.