Northbound Bridge to Bandra Worli Sea Link to open tomorrow

The new connector will open for motorists from 7 am till midnight. File pic

The northbound (Marine Drive to Bandra) bridge connecting the Mumbai Coastal Road and Bandra Worli Sea Link will open tomorrow (Sunday). Three interchanges at Lotus Junction (Worli), Prabhadevi and Lower Parel, will also be opened to the public.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the project. The Mumbai Coastal Road project, stretching from the southern tip of the city at Nariman Point to the northernmost end at Dahisar, is being constructed in phases. The first phase of this project, which extends from Shamaldas Gandhi Marg (Marine Lines Flyover) to the Worli end of the Bandra Worli Sea Link, was completed under the Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Mumbai Coastal Road project (South). This segment spans a length of 10.58 km, with 94 per cent of the construction complete. The full project with the promenade and underground parking will be completed by the year-end. But landscaping of the open area will take three years to complete.

The newly constructed bridge is 827 metres long, including a 699-metre section over the sea and a 128-metre-long approach road. A 2,400 metric tonne bow arch string girder was installed for this bridge, with dimensions of 143 metres in length, 27 metres in width, and 31 metres in height which connects the Coastal Road to the Sea Link. The road will open for motorists from 7 am to midnight. Traffic from Marine Drive to the Sea Link via the Coastal Road will now use the newly inaugurated northbound bridge. Previously, traffic from Marine Drive to the Sea Link was routed through the southbound bridge. With the northbound bridge now operational, the southbound bridge will resume regular traffic flow from Bandra to Marine Drive.

The southbound lane from Bindu Madhav Thackeray Junction (Worli) to Marine Drive (9.29 km) was inaugurated on March 11, 2024. The northbound lane from Marine Drive to Lotus Junction via Haji Ali (6.25 km) was inaugurated on June 10, 2024, while the temporary route from Haji Ali to the Bandra Worli Sea Link via Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road (3.5 km) was opened on July 11, 2024. Traffic from the southbound bridge to Bandra commenced on September 13, 2024.

The Mumbai Coastal Road project spans 10.58 km, including elevated roads, bridges, and embankments. It includes interchanges at Amarsons, Haji Ali and Worli. There are twin underground tunnels, each 2 km long, with six to eight lanes.

The project also includes the creation of a 70-hectare green belt. The project is worth R14,000 crore. The BMC has decided to appoint a private player to develop the green belt under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) model. The company will not use this land for commercial purposes.

827metres
Length of new connector