Mumbai Coastal Road's Second Phase To Be Open For Public From This Date; CM Shinde To Inspect Tunnel

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Sunday announced that the second part of the coastal road will be open for the public from Tuesday onwards.

The second underground tunnel of the Dharmaveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Mumbai Coastal Road (South) will be visited by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on June 10. The northbound tunnel will then be opened from June 11 after an inspection by the Chief Minister and other dignitaries.

The northbound route will be open for traffic from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m for five days a week, i.e., Monday to Friday, and will remain closed on weekends due to the rest of the project’s work.

The coastal route will enable travel from Marine Drive towards north to Bhulabhai Desai Marg, Barrister Rajani Patel Chowk (Lotus Jetty), and Vatsalabai Desai Chowk (Haji Ali Chowk).

The BMC is also trying to open the phase up to Bindumadhav Thackeray Chowk by July 10, to make it easier to travel north through the Mumbai Coastal Road Project.

What Is The Mumbai Coastal Road Project?

The 10.58-km coastal road that connects south Mumbai to Worli has 8 lanes on the surface, and in the tunnel, it has 6. There will be a dedicated lane for buses. The two tunnels of this coastal road, each measuring 2.072 kilometres in length with an internal diameter of 11 metres, are being constructed between Priyadarshini Park and Girgaon Chowpatty. The project also includes a 4.35 km road on reclamation and 2.19 km of bridges. The excavation of the southbound tunnel commenced in January 2021 and concluded in January 2022.

Subsequently, the boring of the northbound tunnel began in April 2022 and ended in May 2023. The tunnels are fortified with a 375-mm-thick concrete cover, featuring fire protection boards.

Estimated to cost approximately Rs 12,700 crore, after completion this his will be India’s first undersea road tunnel.

Started in 2018, this project has been also regarded as one of the most expensive projects of the BMC.