Mumbai gets its longest seafront since Marine Drive, as 5.25 km of the new coastal promenade opens on Independence Day; the stretch was inaugurated on Thursday, via video link from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) headquarters
Access available from underpasses connecting promenade to former Worli Sea Face. Pics/By Special Arrangement
A 5.25-km stretch of the new promenade along the Mumbai Coastal Road will be opened to the public, free of cost, from 4.30 pm on August 15, marking the country’s 79th Independence Day. The stretch was inaugurated on Thursday, via video link from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) headquarters, in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
Chief Minister Fadnavis also announced that the Coastal Road itself will now remain open to citizens 24 hours a day, starting from midnight on August 15, instead of the current 7 am to midnight schedule. “The Coastal Road is a huge benefit from a traffic point of view. It includes walking tracks and cycling tracks, which are an attractive amenity for pedestrians,” Fadnavis said on Thursday.
He cautioned against speeding on the Coastal Road, which will now remain open during the night hours as well. He added, “Drivers should follow the traffic rules; the entire stretch is under CCTV surveillance.” The promenade, developed by the BMC as part of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, spans 7.5 km in total. The section opening now runs between Priyadarshini Park to Haji Ali and Love Grove to Worli, which is a total of 5.25km in length, with walking spaces ranging from 8 to 20 metres wide and a sea-facing parapet. The remaining stretch will open in the future.
Pedestrian access is available through underpasses connecting the promenade to the former Worli Sea Face side. Of 19 planned pedestrian subways, four will open on Friday: Subway No. 4 at Akriti Park near Bhulabhai Desai Road, Subway No. 6 at Vatsalabai Desai Chowk near Haji Ali, Subway No. 11 at Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg, and Subway No. 14 at Bindu Madhav Thackeray Chowk. Each subway is equipped with staircases, and adjoining ramps make them accessible to wheelchair users and cyclists.
“It is important for all pedestrians to use only the subways to access the promenade, as the Coastal Road has a strict no-stopping, no-halting policy for vehicles,” said Anil Kumbhare, joint commissioner of Traffic (Police). The current speed limit on the Coastal Road remains 60 km/h inside tunnels and 80 km/h outside, he added. For visitors, the BMC is constructing two parking facilities, each with a capacity of 198 cars, located at Bindu Madhav Thackeray Junction and opposite Worli Dairy.
This is the first major seafront public space developed in South Mumbai since Marine Drive in the 1930s. It features green spaces, shaded seating, cycling tracks, garbage bins at intervals, and landscaped areas, designed for both leisure and fitness. Most of the project’s main works are complete, except for finishing touches to parking areas and open spaces on the reclaimed land. The Coastal Road now has its own control room for round-the-clock monitoring of traffic and emergency situations.
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