(From Our Correspondent)
Mumbai: A growing chorus of residents from South Mumbai’s Napean Sea Road, Breach Candy, and Malabar Hill areas are demanding an additional exit ramp on the Mumbai Coastal Road near Napean Sea Road and they’ve launched a campaign called ‘Unlock the Exit’ to push their case.
The Coastal Road has significantly cut travel time between the western suburbs and South Mumbai. The stretch from the Bandra-Worli Sea Link toll to the Amarsons interchange at Breach Candy takes roughly 12 minutes — but that final 300-metre bottleneck to Mukesh Chowk eats up another 20 to 25 minutes during peak hours, residents say. That’s nearly 40% of total travel time lost in a fraction of the distance.
The root of the problem, according to Nandini Chhabriya of the Breach Candy Residents Forum, is a glaring omission. “This proposed exit arm was inexplicably dropped from the 2016 Final Detailed Project Report,” she told Mumbai Samachar. That single decision, she argues, created today’s gridlock.
Without an exit near Napean Sea Road, all northbound Coastal Road traffic is funnelled through the Amarsons Garden interchange turning a 300-metre strip into a chokepoint where peak-hour exits routinely take 25 to 45 minutes. Residents of Napean Sea Road, Bomanjee Petit Road, and Campus Corner are all bearing the brunt.
“This isn’t just a Breach Candy problem,” Chhabriya stressed. “The entire belt Breach Candy, Camps Corner, Napean Sea Road, Malabar Hill is affected.”
Residents have already held discussions with BMC’s Coastal Road team officials regarding the feasibility of adding an exit arm at Napean Sea Road. The officials have reportedly assured them that a technical evaluation will be carried out.
