Officials say one tunnel complete, south-to-north traffic may start by year-end; entire project will be ready by June 2025
Work on the first tunnel is almost complete and work on safety gears and electricity is underway. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The BMC will be able to open only one side of the Coastal Road route between Marine Lines and Worli in December, as work on the second tunnel is still in the primary stages. Besides, the connectors between the Coastal Road and Bandra-Worli Sea Link and a few arms for interchanges at Worli and Haji Ali will take more time to be completed. The entire project work, including a promenade and car parking facility, is expected to be ready by June 2025.
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Work on the Coastal Road began in December 2018 and it was expected that the 10.58-km-long stretch between Marine Lines and Worli would be operational by November 2023. The civic body even carried out work during the COVID-induced lockdown. However, there were several issues—including damage to the tunnel boring machine, the Supreme Court battle, and the decision to have a bigger span between pillars of the bridge at Worli—which delayed the project.
“We are looking at options to optimise use of the completed structures of the road. One tunnel will be ready and so the south-to-north (Marine Lines to Worli up to JK Kapur Chowk) traffic may start in December 2023. We are also looking to open up a few other stretches on north-to-south roads, but this decision will be taken later,” said a BMC official.
According to Coastal Road chief engineer MM Swami, work on the first tunnel is almost complete and work on safety gears and electricity is underway. “But we cannot use one tunnel for two-way traffic as it will not serve the purpose of the Coastal Road,” he said, adding that work on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link connector and other works along the stretch will be completed by May 2024.
The Coastal Road project also includes the construction of 2.070-km-long parallel tunnels between Priyadarshini Park and Girgaon Chowpatty. While the excavation of the first tunnel was completed on January 10, 2022, work on the second began in April 2022 and was completed last month. The Coastal Road is being constructed from the Princess Street flyover to the southern end of Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The total cost, including taxes and charges, was projected to be Rs 12,000 crore. However, the consultant charge has increased and the project cost is now pegged at Rs 12,721 crore.
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