CST-Kurla traffic chaos: MMRDA to clear illegal encroachments on BKC stretch

The two-lane bottleneck on CSTâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Road in Kurla is prone to massive traffic snarls, every day. Pic/Nimesh Dave

The four-lane Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) stretch is a pleasure for motorists, right before it meets CST Road on the Kurla end, where traffic chokes into two lanes. Taking note of the woes of thousands of commuters every day, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to widen the road by removing illegal structures on the stretch.

The traffic mess caused on CST Road is similar to the daily snarls on the Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR). Constant honking and traffic jams, during morning and evening peak hours, have become a common occurrence for motorists entering and exiting the BKC.

The road-widening initiate is part of the R50 crore project the MMRDA has undertaken to ease traffic from SCLR and Kurla CST Road right up to Vakola Bridge. According to sources in the MMRDA, the project involves construction of an elevated road from the BKC all the way till the Western Express Highway (WEH). This 3-km long two-lane extension will begin at Kapadia Nagar in Kurla and end at Vakola junction.

The MMRDA authorities also intend to improve the connectivity of eastern and western suburbs with this project.

"The project will drastically reduce the time required to reach BKC from the suburbs. It will also channel the airport-bound traffic to the elevated road, which will, consequently, help in decongesting traffic on CST Road," an MMRDA official said.

MMRDA has made a provision of Rs 171 crore in this year's budget, of which they intend to spend R106 crore on road and allied improvement and R65 crore on procuring hybrid buses that will ply on BKC. At present, a dedicated lane has been created for BEST buses and once the encroachments on CST Road are removed, the authorities hope to uitilise these buses more.