Currently, there is good news for Mumbaikars as a new bow-string bridge has been planned to be part of the Coastal Road that directly connects to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, ending traffic jams. This development is expected to reduce the time taken from Marine Drive, Bandra, to halve the 45- 60 minutes commonly spent to the average of 15- 20 minutes. Also, the travel distance from South Bombay to the airport would be about 30 minutes, which is way better than the travel distance of over one hour.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the new Connector before it was opened for normal traffic today.
Vehicles in south Mumbai approaching Bandra will be allowed into the sea link depending on the time between 0700 hours and 2300 hours. Still, the southbound traffic will remain on the normal route until both ends of the Coastal Road are linked to the sea connection.
With the commissioning of this new bridge, four segments of the Coastal Road have now been opened to the public. It is a much-planned mega infrastructural project with a cost estimate of more than ₹ 14,000 crore. Its purpose is to solve the problem of traffic congestion in the city and improve the overall satisfaction of travelers while using the facility.
Earlier, the first phase of the southbound from Worli to Marine Drive was launched on March 11, while the second phase of the northbound from Marine Drive to Haji Ali began on June 10, and the last phase from Haji Ali to Worli was flagged off on July 11. The upcoming bridge is expected to mark the end of this project phase.
During the media briefing, Chief Minister Shinde stated that advanced imported technology was incorporated into the construction of the Coastal Road. He also discussed the Coastal Road project connecting Marine Drive to Versova and assured that all issues raised by residents during construction have been looked into.
