The under-construction Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) is set to become partially operational by November 2023.
This was said on Friday (16 June) by the officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which is implementing the project to decongest the existing roads.
BMC officials also said that the entire high-speed corridor will be open for vehicular movement by May 2024. The original deadline for reopening the entire bridge was November 2023.
The 10.58-km-long MCRP will connect Nariman Point in South Mumbai with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) at Worli through a series of arterial roads, underground tunnels and traffic interchanges.
Currently, civic officials are considering two options for partially opening the bridge. The first option is between Marine Drive and Haji Ali Promenade, while the second option is from Marine Drive to JK Kapoor Chowk at the Worli interchange.
The BMC has completed 76 per cent of the project, including the launching of girders in the Haji Ali interchange and two other interchanges at Amarsons Garden in Breach Candy and the final interchange at Worli.
The final interchange at Worli would become operational only after the bridge that will connect the main road with Bandra–Worli Sea Link becomes ready.
One Tunnel To Get Ready
The high point of this project is the twin tunnels beneath the Arabian Sea near Girgaon Chowpatty, making it India’s first undersea tunnel system.
The 2.07-kilometre twin tunnel system runs from Priyadarshi Park to Chhoti Chowpatty at Marine Drive, close to the landmark Chowpatty beach at Girgaum.
The twin tunnels have been excavated using a Chinese Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Mavala, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s Mountain warfare experts.
The TBM Mavala, with a diameter of 12.19 metre, is the largest tunnel boring machine to ever be deployed in India and has been manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (CRCHI).
While the civic body has achieved the break-through on both the tunnels, only the first tunnel is ready for vehicular movement.
The final work of creating approach roads inside the second tunnel is currently underway, and will take another 3-4 months to complete.
As such, by November, only one of the underground tunnels will be opened for traffic movement, since the second tunnel will not be entirely operational till then.
Once the road is opened in November, traffic from both ends can pass through one tunnel, as each tunnel has three lanes for vehicular movement. However, the final plan is still under consideration.