The newly inaugurated Coastal Road in South Mumbai was anticipated to alleviate traffic congestion, but it appears to be having the opposite effect. Commuters are now facing severe traffic jams extending from Worli Sea Face to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL). Pratik Salgaonkar, a driver who has used this route for 14 years, noted that a journey which previously took six to eight minutes now extends to 15 to 20 minutes. The congestion is not limited to the entry points of the Coastal Road but is also causing significant traffic on the BWSL, where vehicles are moving at a crawl for one to two kilometers.
Zaheer Memon expressed his frustration, pointing out that despite paying a toll of Rs 150, the traffic remains intolerable. He has observed that traffic conditions worsened since the Coastal Road construction began and have now reached an even more problematic level. The merging of four lanes into two at a key bottleneck exacerbates the delays.
Worli resident Chikita Kukreja has also experienced worsening traffic, especially during the morning rush hour. What was once a 15-minute drive now takes her between 25 and 30 minutes.A traffic department official attributed the problem to the increased travel speeds on the Coastal Road, which has resulted in more cars arriving simultaneously at Worli. However, he emphasized that the severe delays are largely due to the infrastructural issue at the BWSL exit, rather than solely traffic volume.