Tanishka Sodhi
These days, barricades and bulldozers obscure the view of Mumbaiâs Arabian Sea coastline. Signboards that read âconnecting people and placesâ watch over construction crews that have made good use of the pandemic lockdown to ramp up work on the ambitious Coastal Road project.
The 29-km road will link Marine Drive in the south to Kandivali in the north. The anticipated benefit? Reduction in travel time by about 70 percent in the second most
congested city in the world. Is the intended benefit worth the estimated cost in public resources, livelihoods, and environmental damage?
The project
comprises an eight-lane partly elevated road, a 2.31-km main bridge, a 13-km interchange bridge, a sea wall, and Indiaâs first undersea tunnel. About 68,000 vehicles are