Smooth travel in Mumbai Metropolitan Region by 2030: It’ll have a familiar ring road to it – Hindustan Times

For decades, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) – an emerging metropolis with an area of 6,335sqkm (2.1% of Maharashtra’s total area), nine key municipal corporations and 36% contribution towards the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) – has remained poorly connected to the financial hub, Mumbai. The commute is heavily dependent on the overburdened suburban railways, while buses majorly act as a feeder system. By 2030, however, the struggle may be a thing of the past, as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the nodal authority for infrastructure projects in the region, has planned a multitude of road and Metro projects. The vision is to establish a signal-free ring road around MMR – the sixth largest metropolitan region in the world – to make the road commute smoother.

Part of the vision are the 22-km Mumbai-Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), connecting Mumbai’s Sewri to Navi Mumbai, the multimodal corridor (MMC) stretching 128km from Chirner in Alibag to Navghar in Virar (which will connect to MTHL), a 5-km Vasai to Mira-Bhayander bridge and another sea link from Versova-Virar, both of which are being planned by MMRDA. “From Versova, the commuter can connect to the Versova-Bandra sea link and the existing Bandra-Worli sea link to the Sewri-Worli elevated connector, forming an entire ring road that is expected to be completed by 2030. It will be signal-free,” said MMRDA commissioner RA Rajeev, as he recently spelt out the plan.

Status check

MMR is to Mumbai is what the National Capital Region (NCR) is to Delhi. It includes Mumbai and the satellite towns of Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi-Nizampur and Ulhasnagar.

According to the 2011 census, MMR’s population is 22.8 million, of which Mumbai’s population is 12.44 million, making it one of the most populous cities in India. Mumbai, however, is only 10.5% of MMR’s total area, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) comprehensive mobility plan 2016. The same study also states that close to seven lakh people enter Mumbai in morning peak hours for work daily.

However, most of the projects in the vision are still in planning stages. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said work on the Bandra-Versova sea link has started. The MMRDA, in October, handed over the work order for the 4.5 km Sewri-Worli connector. The MMRDA has also completed 35% works on MTHL, which will cut the travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to 40 minutes. The ambitious multimodal corridor project was handed over to the MSRDC recently. The Vasai-Bhayander bridge was first proposed in 2013. The 5-km bridge will reduce the travel time to 30 minutes from the current 50 minutes, say officials. “We are in the final stages of approval for forest and saltpan land, after which, tenders will be invited shortly,” said a statement by MMRDA.

Radheyshyam Mopalwar, vice-chairman and managing director, MSRDC, said, “We are in the process of land acquisition for the multimodal corridor, which will take at least a year, after which we will start the tendering process.”

MSRDC is also looking at extending the under-construction Bandra-Versova link road (BSVL) till Virar. The 42.75-km sea-bridge will have connectors at Charkop, Uttan, Vasai and Virar. So with the coastal road connecting Navi Mumbai to the Bandra-Worli sea link, the Bandra-Versova sea link and the proposed extension to Virar, the travel time between south Mumbai and Virar in Palghar district, a distance of nearly 90km, will reduce to an hour from the current three hours.

Metro life

Apart from road projects, MMRDA is also executing a 337-km Mumbai Metro network, of which many lines connect to the MMR. This includes the 32-km Metro-4 connecting Wadala to Kasarwadavli in Thane, 24-km Metro-5 connecting three cities of Thane, Bhiwandi and Kalyan, an extension to Metro-7 till Mira-Bhayander, a 9-km Metro-10 that connects Gaimukh to Shivaji Chowk, Metro-12 that connects Kalyan, Taloja and Dombivli, Metro-13 from Shivaji Chowk to Virar and Metro-14 that will stretch from Kanjurmarg to Badlapur.

Implementing the entire Mumbai Metro master plan will reduce traffic congestion from the current 137% to 33% in Mumbai by 2031, a study undertaken by MMRDA stated. The average speed on Mumbai roads will also increase from 17kmph to 30kmph by 2031, the study stated. Experts said this peripheral connectivity, along with the proposed east-west connections like the Goregaon-Mulund link road planned by the civic body, will help complete the regional grid. “However, there are still crucial links like the Panvel-Neral connectivity that need to be thought about,” said Pankaj Joshi, executive director of the Mumbai-based Urban Design Research Institute.

“The Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor is in itself a crucial ring road that was planned decades ago. It is good that we are seeing some of the plans taking shape on ground to strengthen regional connectivity.”