Coastal Road between Marine Drive and Worli set to open on Monday, 11 March ’24.

India’s first undersea tunnel, an arm of the Mumbai Coastal Road between the iconic Marine Drive and Worli will be inaugurated on Monday.

The bridge will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

Built at a cost of ₹13,983.83 crore, the undersea tunnel is expected to reduce the commuting time to 8 minutes from the present 45 minutes. The maximum speed on the coastal road is set at 80 kmph with an initial average of 60 kmph to be set initially.

The undersea tunnel that has 111 hectares of land reclaimed will have 70 hectares of recreational open and green spaces. The recreational spaces will consist of jogging and cycle tracks, a butterfly garden and a play area for children.

Built with a 7.50-km promenade and a 7.47-km sea wall, the undersea tunnel witnessed the India Saccardo Ventilation System that is installed in the road transport tunnel for the first time. The bridge is constructed on the monopile foundation with the tunnels bored by India’s largest diameter (12.19 m) Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM).

“The road will improve connectivity between the Southern and Northern parts of Mumbai and provide better accessibility to the historical and heritage structures of South Mumbai. The estimated commuting time will be reduced by 70 per cent and motorists will be able to save fuel up to 34 per cent. The coastal road that is designed to reduce traffic congestion on the existing roads will have a dedicated bus lane.

The tunnel provides coastal erosion protection by providing a sea wall and protection against storm surges and floods. Natural materials of rock boulders, armour rock is being used for sea wall which will help in the growth of marine fauna,” stated the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the nodal civic body handling the project.

The Coastal Road is expected to boost the rental of offices for the old central business district. “With the first phase of Coastal Road, likely to connect Princess Street Flyover to Worli and the second phase (Bandra-Versova sea link), connecting Bandra with western suburbs in 2027, the entire Old Central Business District (CBD) area will witness improved connectivity with Western Suburbs and Central Mumbai With developers of repute in constant pursuit of commercial developments for acquisition, a refurbished office market of Old CBD, could present alternate REITable opportunities within Mumbai for prospective investors. With supply bottlenecks easing in future, the micro market can once again be on the radar for occupiers and eventually regain its lost allure partly, if not fully,” mentions an MMR Infra Report by Collier.

In the second phase, BMC will connect a 20.75 km coastal road between Versova with Dahisar in the western suburbs.