From today on trial basis: Mumbai Coastal Road Project’s south-bound arm to be open 7 am to 11 pm

Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior official from the traffic department said, “We are starting this from Wednesday on a trial basis. If the trial succeeds we will implement the new timing on a regular basis.”

Currently, the coastal swath is operational only between 8 am and 8 pm on weekdays for south-bound traffic. Now, in a bid to ascertain the efficiency of the tunnel’s systems, the civic body is set to increase the operational hours of the coastal road to 16 hours for all seven days of the week.

A senior BMC official told The Indian Express, “We will be operating the south-bound arm for 16 hours, from 7 am to 11 pm. This increase in time was proposed to ascertain the efficiency of various systems within tunnels such as the ventilation system, CCTVs etc. over a longer duration.”

Following this, BMC will also open the other arm by May end for 16 hours. “A few days after the other side also becomes operational, we will also work on integration of the two tunnels,” said the civic official.

“Integration includes starting the ventilation systems of both tunnels,” he said, “and checking whether they are working in synchronisation. The integration of the various systems will be observed and checked in this period.” The integration will also involve opening cross passages between the two tunnels, which allow pedestrians or motorists to cross one tunnel and enter the other in case of emergencies like vehicular breakdown, a fire, medical issues or a natural calamity.

While there are total of 10 cross passages on the route, the tunnel itself has six cross passages inside, at an interval of 300 metres each. Of these, two cross passages are for vehicles and four are reserved for pedestrian crossing.

Upon integration of the two arms, a senior BMC official said that the entire stretch of phase 1 will be opened to round-the-clock traffic from the end of June.

Last week, over a time span of 1 hour and 25 minutes, BMC launched girders for the bowstring arch bridge that will connect the coastal road with BWSL. Completion of these girders will mark the completion of first phase of the Rs 13,000–crore project.