Mumbai to Get Five New Ring Roads to Enhance Connectivity and Ease Traffic

Mumbai, 10th September 2024: Five new ring roads are being developed as part of a major project to improve connectivity and ease congestion in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The southernmost ring road will feature the new Orange Gate tunnel, linking the Freeway with the Coastal Road at Marine Drive.

The ring roads aim to alleviate traffic and enhance connections to neighbouring areas such as Thane, Palghar, and Alibaug. They will utilize existing and partially completed infrastructure, including the Eastern Freeway, Western Express Highway (WEH), and Coastal Road, with additional bridges and tunnels.

The new roads will include:
1. Connecting South Mumbai with its suburbs.
2. Linking Mumbai with Thane.
3. Providing a route between Mumbai and Palghar-Alibaug.
4. A northern ring road, which is still in the planning stage as part of the Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor.

Sanjay Mukherjee, Commissioner of MMRDA, stated, “The new roads will enable traffic to circulate more efficiently within Mumbai and the surrounding region.” The project, backed by investments exceeding Rs 70,000 crore from BMC, MMRDA, and MSRDC, was initiated following an MMRDA study.

Mukherjee also noted that the new roads will feature dedicated bus lanes and stops, addressing challenges faced in integrating such infrastructure into existing roads. The ring roads are expected to ease congestion on internal roads by offering alternative circular routes.

Transport activist TV Shenoy praised the ring roads’ long-term benefits but highlighted potential issues with interconnectivity that could create bottlenecks.

Key road connections include:
– Eastern Freeway connecting to the Orange Gate tunnel and Coastal Road.
– Coastal Road linking to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and extending towards the Eastern Freeway and Ghatkopar.
– Bandra-Versova Sea Link connecting to the Western Express Highway and extending to the Eastern Freeway at Airoli Junction.
– An elevated road connecting Bandra-Versova Sea Link to Dahisar-Bhayandar and onward to the Thane Coastal Road.
– The Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor, a 126 km expressway connecting Navghar-Balavali within the MMR.