Test Drive: Does Mumbai Coastal Road merely move jams?

The northbound arm of the Coastal Road may help to reduce travel time, but traffic congestion at signals on the way to it remains a concern for commuters. It took mid-day seven minutes to travel 6 km from Marine Drive to Worli intersection, but getting from Fort to Marine Drive via Princess Street flyover, a distance of 2.5 km, took 20 minutes. Again, after the exit point, it took more than an hour to reach the collectorate office at Bandra East which was 9 km away.

The second phase of the Rs 14,000-crore project was opened to the public on Monday evening. Pic/Kirti Surve Parade

The northbound arm from Marine Drive up to Worli intersection was opened up to the public on Monday evening. mid-day took Pranav Naik - an urban designer, architect and co-ordinator of the Mumbai Mobility Forum - along for a ride on the newly opened phase to check the feasibility of the road and he raised an important question: is the Rs 14,000 crore project worth it?

We started our journey at 5.45 pm, typically the end of the working day, from the Fort area where several offices are located. We encountered our first signal at the University junction, then the BSNL building, Fashion Street, Metro Inox and Parsi Dairy junction before reaching the Princess Street flyover, which lands us at the entry point of the newly opened tunnel.

Traffic at Poonam Chambers in Worli on Tuesday

"Usually the area witnesses more traffic on regular days," said Naik. Though there were fewer vehicles than usual on the roads, with five signals, it took 20 minutes to reach the dream road. It required just four minutes to cross the tunnel, which was a bumpy ride. "This is due to low-quality concreting work. If we talk about international standards, this has to be reflected," said Naik.

We took the Amarsons intersection, which gives commuters a ‘tourist feeling'. "But the intersection is not meant for that purpose. Though the length of the road is only 10 km, the length of three intersections in total is 15 km. To get from Amansons to Haji Ali, a motorist on the Coastal Road needs to travel much more than the two-kilometre distance between the spot spots," said Naik.

The tunnel connecting Marine Drive and Worli. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

As usual, there were a bunch of cars at the end of Amarsons intersection with the main road. The road is narrow and it gets jammed as cars from opposite directions come here to enter the Coastal Road. Naik explained, "The faulty design of the project will create more and more bottlenecks at the entry and exit points. We may experience traffic at the Worli Lotus Jetty also." He was right.

As we used the Lotus Jetty intersection, which is the endpoint of the second phase of the Coastal Road, we had to wait for at least two and a half minutes before starting to travel on land. Naik pointed out, "Maybe the Coastal Road will give an advantage to people staying nearby, but those heading to offices that are even two kilometres away will face traffic congestion once they exit the road."

Pranav Naik, urban designer, architect and co-ordinator of the Mumbai Mobility Forum. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Expert Speak

"It takes me around 31 minutes to travel 14 km from Worli to the Gateway of India every morning. When I travel via the Coastal Road, it takes 26 minutes. So with many signals and an average traffic speed of 25 km on normal routes, the Rs 14,000 crore Coastal Road saves only five minutes. So here is the big question: Is it worth spending so much money to build just 10 km of road, which is beneficial for hardly five per cent of the public? Can't we spend as much to improve public transport by allocating more buses on roads? The Metro from Colaba to Goregaon - covering a 33-km distance - has a project cost of R33,000 crore, double that of the Coastal Road and it will serve the public," said Naik.

Worli Sea Face to Bandra

Though our ride officially ended at a signal at the junction of Worli Sea Face Road after the Lotus Jetty, the remaining part of the journey was interesting. It took more than an hour to reach the collector's office in Bandra East, which was 9 km away thanks to bumper-to-bumper traffic on Worli Sea Face Road as well as the bridge connecting Bandra West to East, which raises another important question: What happens to those who want to go to Bandra West or East after ‘flying' on the Coastal Road?