New 550m Mumbai Coastal Road-Worli underpass set to open by early May

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that the new 550-metre-long and 11-meters-wide, vehicular underpass connecting Mumbai Coastal Road with Worli-Sewri corridor will be operational by early May. This tunnel is the only underpass included in the 10.58-km Coastal Road Project.

Designed for southbound vehicles, the underpass aims to ease traffic congestion in Worli, especially for motorists from Dadar and Prabhadevi. Once open, vehicles will no longer need to use the Worli or Haji Ali interchanges to access the coastal road.

The underpass will run beneath Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road, linking J K Kapur Chowk to the coastal road through the vehicular interchange at Bindoo Madhav Thackeray Chowk, near Worli sea face. Final works such as lane markings, lighting installation, and sidewall surfacing are currently underway and expected to conclude within weeks.

Civic officials highlighted that the underpass has been designed keeping long-standing traffic issues in mind. It will allow easy movement from Sewri-Worli elevated corridor directly to the western suburbs or southern Mumbai, thus reducing the pressure on the overburdened Worli interchange.

Currently, the Mumbai Coastal Road is functional between Nariman Point and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL). Once the underpass is open, vehicles entering it will have two route options: towards Bandra or southwards to Marine Drive/Nariman Point.