Mumbai: 40 vehicles cross Coastal Road tunnel every minute

The Coastal Road is seeing a steady pattern of vehicular flow with the morning hours witnessing the maximum traffic flow on the southbound route. While the daily flow is between 18,000-20,000 vehicles, around 40 vehicles cross the tunnel within a minute during peak hours. The maximum number of vehicles travels between 9 am and 1 pm, accounting for more than 40 per cent of traffic flow.

The coastal road was partially opened on March 12 for southbound traffic. The lanes of the Coastal Road from Worli (Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk) to Marine Lines are open to commuters between 8 am and 5 pm, and between 8 am and 8 pm from other entry points like Copper Chimney restaurant and Amarsons Garden. The road is closed on weekends so that the remaining work can be completed.

Though the first week of opening experienced many taking the route for joyrides, traffic flow patterns have now regularised based on work hours. Earlier, the maximum traffic flow was seen between 3 pm and 4 pm. "In the first week, it was seen that four to five vehicles travelled alongside in the tunnel for joyrides. Now the trend has changed and traffic flow has regularised with morning hours seeing the highest number of vehicles during the day," said a BMC official connected with the Coastal Road project.

Last week, due to two public holidays, the vehicle flow showed a downward trend. But the daily average remained in the 18,000-20,000 range. The highest number of vehicles used the Coastal Road on March 15 (22,880) while the lowest number was recorded on March 25 (Holi) with 9,825 vehicles. Meanwhile, the maximum hourly vehicle number touched 2,500.

18,831
Avg. no. of vehicles using Coastal Road daily