The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is redesigning its road connectivity network to reduce traffic congestion on the upcoming northern phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, which will extend from Versova to Dahisar and serve as an alternative north–south corridor along the western suburbs.
As part of a detailed mobility strategy, the civic body has identified at least ten major junctions and road links that will be integrated with the coastal road system. These include key points ranging from the JVPD flyover to the Mrunaltai Gore flyover, aimed at improving access and dispersing traffic across multiple entry and exit routes.
The Versova–Dahisar coastal road is expected to significantly reduce pressure on major arterial routes such as the Western Express Highway, SV Road, and Linking Road. However, officials have noted that congestion tends to build up at entry and exit points even when the main corridor is signal-free.
A senior BMC official explained the core issue, stating, “Coastal road moves in one direction and is an example of linear development, where the entry and exits to the road are planned at one fixed point. Owing to the sole entry and exit locations, all traffic from feeder roads rush towards the coastal road junctions, leading to significant congestion in the area. This creates a bottleneck outside the coastal road, which ultimately also has an impact on the carrying capacity of the road,” said a senior BMC official.
To address this, the civic body is working on distributing access points across intermediate sections instead of depending on a single entry or exit node. “To prevent crowding at sole entry and exit locations, we seek to give the drivers multiple options which will allow them to arrive in and out of coastal road in intermediate sections as well,” the official added.
According to officials, one of the major planned upgrades involves the JVPD flyover, which will connect to Versova Link Road and further link to the Versova–Bandra Sea Link connector and the coastal road network. This alignment is expected to improve connectivity from Gokhale Bridge through CD Barfiwala Flyover and onward towards the Western Express Highway.
The upcoming Versova–Madh bridge will also connect at the Madh interchange near Lokhandwala, enabling smoother movement towards the Western Express Highway and the JVLR corridor being developed by MMRDA.
Further integrations include linking the Lokhandwala interchange with Mrunaltai Gore flyover, connecting Malad’s Ramchandra Nullah bridge to the Mindspace interchange, and improving access at Charkop, Gorai, Dahisar connector, and Kandarpada rotary junctions.
Together, these interventions aim to create a more distributed traffic flow system and reduce pressure on coastal road entry points once the corridor becomes operational.
Source: The Indian Express
