[Aditya]

The Environment Ministry of the Government of India has approved a new coastal road project which will connect Nariman Point to the suburb of Kandivali. This new 35 km-long road is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the city considerably.

The project was given clearance on the conditions that coastal and marine life will not be affected, the project will stay clear of the high tide line, there will be minimum reclamation of coastal land and no commercial activity will be permitted on the reclaimed land.

The cost of the project is Rs. 8,500 crore and is a part of the Government of Maharashtra's transport infrastructure projects. The draft notification for the project is expected to come by July 15 and the final notification by August 15. Construction is expected to commence in December.

The state government recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Netherlands for technical support to develop the Mumbai coastal road.

Source: Economic Times, Business Standard

[gsurya]

So this signals the beginning of the end of Marine drive, Chowpatty beach, Juhu beach, Versova-Malad stretch mangroves, etc.

Instead of buildings violating the CRZ that has protected Mumbai's coast for years, now the Govt itself will.

[zenren]

If it is just going to be a like a very long bridge, I guess that is the only option to curb the pollution levels to some extent. Hopefully, they would keep enough policing on this stretch to ensure maniacs cannot abuse the 35km long stretch with no side roads merging.

It would be interesting to see how they plan for emergency vehicles in this new construction. I hope they reserve a lane (may be inside the median) for emergency vehicles like ambulances, fire-trucks and tow-trucks alone which would be closed otherwise to ensure they can reach any spot in case of an emergency without having to get stuck behind the traffic.

[gsurya]

A coastal road means reclaiming land from present beaches / waterfronts & building the road. Like how Marine drive was made long long ago.

It is NOT a bridge like Sea Link, that would have been the right way to go. To extend current sealink to Haji Ali - Nariman Point & on the other side to Versova using long bridges was the other alternative.

But yes that is more expensive, but also much more coast & environment friendly in the long run. Clearly that is not a priority for this Govt.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by gsurya

A coastal road means reclaiming land from present beaches / waterfronts & building the road. Like how Marine drive was made long long ago.

It is NOT a bridge like Sea Link, that would have been the right way to go. To extend current sealink to Haji Ali - Nariman Point & on the other side to Versova using long bridges was the other alternative.

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed it to be a longer version of sealink, going by the image in the news article.

Originally Posted by Aditya

The Environment Ministry of the Government of India has approved a new coastal road project which will connect Nariman Point to the suburb of Kandivali. This new 35 km-long road is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the city considerably.

Can we modify the image in our news article to show a coastal road instead of a sea-bridge to avoid confusion?

[PPS]

How many lanes will this Coastal Road be having? Usually it takes about 3hrs by car from Fort to my home near Marve Beach if one leaves around 6pm. The dreaded WEH being the main culprit. I wonder how many years this road will take to build!

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by PPS

How many lanes will this Coastal Road be having? Usually it takes about 3hrs by car from Fort to my home near Marve Beach if one leaves around 6pm. The dreaded WEH being the main culprit. I wonder how many years this road will take to build!

Good point, a 4 / 6 lane bridge that hops from Nariman Point to Breach Candy to Worli seaface to Bandra to Versova to Marve will be the best long term plan instead of this damaging coastal road plan.

http://scroll.in/article/713403/mumb...ampaign=buffer

[revtech]

Originally Posted by gsurya

Good point, a 4 / 6 lane bridge that hops from Nariman Point to Breach Candy to Worli seaface to Bandra to Versova to Marve will be the best long term plan instead of this damaging coastal road plan.

You can forget 6 lanes.

what is the estimated time frame for the project and im sure some activist some where will get up and give reasons why it shouldnt be built.

Rev

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by revtech

You can forget 6 lanes.

what is the estimated time frame for the project and im sure some activist some where will get up and give reasons why it shouldnt be built.

Rev

Activists have already thrown their weight behind a bridge instead of the coastal road! A coastal road can at best be 4 lane & is an ecological disaster not to mention a sore eye.

China built a 31 mile bridge in 6 yrs, surely we can match them now?

[phamilyman]

[dons fire retardant suit]
Actually, this whole plan reeks of outdated planning concepts.

Why should business hubs not be developed in the suburbs? Like Gurgaon for Delhi, or even BKC in Mumbai.

Why should the government not invest the same money in a public transport system that's fast and serves more people? This will serve at max a handful of lakh car users while the silent crores travel in trains.

Why not making cars too expensive to use, and reducing bus fares instead?

With India's exploding prosperity - all such roads will be choked in no time with cars, unless we explore new solutions.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

[dons fire retardant suit]
Actually, this whole plan reeks of outdated planning concepts.

Why should business hubs not be developed in the suburbs? Like Gurgaon for Delhi, or even BKC in Mumbai.

Why should the government not invest the same money in a public transport system that's fast and serves more people? This will serve at max a handful of lakh car users while the silent crores travel in trains.

Why not making cars too expensive to use, and reducing bus fares instead?

With India's exploding prosperity - all such roads will be choked in no time with cars, unless we explore new solutions.

Dear Sir,

I completely agree with you that business hubs must come up in suburbs like Gurgaon, but Bombay does not have that liberty of vast open farm lands to gobble and create IT parks. BKC is almost saturated, and the area around Bombay is either the deep blue sea or green no development zones. These include the ghats that we need to cross to get to Nasik in the north or pune in the south.

So, it is very difficult to set up business hubs outside Bombay and would require a huge political will and unrepairable damage to environment.

Now coming to your other point of making faster mass transport systems, I totally agree with you on this. The planning for the metro in Bombay is going on since ages and requires real quick implementations now.

This coastal road, though i think will be a huge boon to the western suburbs which at any time of the day are choc - a - block and would ease a huge load off the Western express highway , the only major arterial road of the western burbs.

The eastern burbs are comparatively less crowded and enjoy 2 arterial roads now namely the Eastern express highway and the Eastern freeway.

Implementing this coastal road will be a blessing and if i read it correctly, there are already riders in place given by the ministry of environmental affairs to make this road on stilts to reduce the damage caused to the environment specificallly mangroves.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[GTO]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Why should business hubs not be developed in the suburbs? Like Gurgaon for Delhi, or even BKC in Mumbai.

They did. This was exactly the idea behind 'New Bombay'.

And yes, suburbs have greatly developed too. Bombay has continuously expanded on the north side. 30 years back, there was no Lokhandwala. Today, it looks like this:


Image Source - Mid Day

Why should the government not invest the same money in a public transport system that's fast and serves more people?

100% agreed.

Why not making cars too expensive to use, and reducing bus fares instead?

Cars are already expensive to buy & run, and our bus fares are the cheapest in the world. Overall, India has among the lowest automotive penetration rates globally (40 cars / 1000 Citizens, where it's over 600 / 1000 in developed countries).

With India's exploding prosperity - all such roads will be choked in no time with cars

They already are .

[amit]

By the time the coastal road is built, it will be too outdated to handle the volume of cars on our roads .

What we need are North-South & East-West connecting 8-10 lane expressway's with multiple entry & exit points and interchanges. These expressway's have to be connected to the Mumbai-Pune expressway & Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway for fast & smooth traffic flow.

Why can't the Ahmedabad highway connect to Mumbai-Pune expressway via a freeway that bypasses Ghodbunder road, Thane & Navi Mumbai?

Today someone coming from Pune reaches the end of the expressway in Mumbai in 1.15 hours and spends the next 2 hours reaching downtown Mumbai from the end point of expressway. Why can't the expressway be extended to connect with the eastern freeway at Chembur so people reach faster? Once all these things are done, they can think of making car's expensive, toll to enter downtown Mumbai, odd & even number plated cars and all those things.

We are building infrastructure in bits & pieces. Make a sea link here, a coastal road there, a freeway somewhere else. Roads can't be point to point, they have to be interlinked to offer a seamless transit route in, through and out of the city.

Same mistake is being done with the metro & mono rail. The new airport in Navi Mumbai has to be connected to downtown, BKC and the existing airport in Mumbai with a metro. No one is thinking about that. They should also plan on running express trains from the new airport to Pune via Lonavala & Chakan & also Ahmedabad on the other side.

[Rehaan]

Came across this video (excuse the whatsapp resolution!).





Really helps visualize things:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x-4phQlIaA

[TusharK]

Louis Berger awarded contract for Versova-Bandra Sea Link

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has appointed US-based Louis Berger as project consultants for the Versova-Bandra Sea Link project.



The Versova-Bandra Sea Link project is part of the larger coastal road plan undertaken by MSRDC to reduce congestion in western Mumbai. As part of the Rs. 109 crore contract, Louis Berger will carry out a feasibility study of the 17.17 km stretch. The company will also prepare tenders, review designs and provide construction management services during construction phase.

The northbound extension of the existing Bandra-Worli Sea Link will be an 8-lane highway that will connect the suburbs of Versova and Bandra. This stretch will include a cable-stayed bridge section and a balanced cantilever section. Two interchanges connecting areas of Juhu and Koliwada are also planned.

The project is estimated to cost Rs. 6,000 crore and will be constructed over 54 months. It is likely to be completed by the end 2021.

Source: The Hindu

Link to Team-BHP News