The Coastal Road has transformed the way we travel across Mumbai.
It provides fast, signal-free connectivity over long distances, saving time and fuel & hassle. But for residents of Breach Candy, Kemps Corner, Napean Sea Road,
Malabar Hill and Walkeshwar, a new problem has emerged. While the main journey is smooth, the final stretch towards our homes has become frustratingly slow. Many of us now experience a familiar scenario: a fast 8–10 minute drive from the Bandra toll booth of the Sea Link to the Amarsons
Garden Interchange exit, only to get stuck for 20–25 minutes on a 300- metre stretch leading to the Mukesh Chowk traffic signal. Without adequate dispersal at the end, all that efficiency collapses into a bottleneck defeating the purpose of the Coastal Road. The core issue is how traffic is being distributed. The Amarsons Garden interchange currently serves a very large area — including Breach Candy, Napean Sea Road, Malabar Hill, Kemps Corner and beyond This pushes a high volume of vehicles onto roads that were never designed for such loads. Surprisingly previous planning studies from 1991 & 2011 recommended a Coastal Road Exit at Napean Sea Road, but it was excluded in the 2016 Detailed Project Report which severely underestimated traffic demand due to inadequate study. Most roads in our area are narrow (often less than 2 lanes), lined with residential buildings, schools, hospitals, shop clusters and places of worship.
There is very little room to expand or increase capacity, making most of the Detailed Project Report 2016 network improvement recommendations un-implementable. Specific to the Mukesh Chowk traffic signal. The Mumbai Traffic Police has confirmed that it has tried several traffic management measures to ease congestion, but these have not yielded positive results. Furthermore, they say there is no scope to redesign or increase the width of the road to accommodate the increased volume of traffic.
As a resident of Nepean Sea Road and starter of an online petition for the Napean Sea Road Exit, Raashi Gulati says, “this is not about convenience, it is about restoring mobility and quality of life. Daily congestion at Breach Candy after the Amarsons interchange highlights a clear gap. The Mumbai Coastal Road was meant to decongest, not create new bottlenecks. An exit at Nepean Sea Road is a practical, future ready step in that direction.”
This situation is only going to worsen. Traffic in our neighborhood is expected to increase significantly due to:
● Increased Coastal Road connectivity like Phase 2 opening linking Bandra to Bhayender & new connections like the Eastern Freeway extension at Orange Gate and the Worli–Sewri link
● The upcoming Coastal Gardens, which will attract massive footfalls & with-it traffic, especially on evenings and weekends
● Increased building redevelopment activity across Malabar Hill, Napean Sea Road and nearby areas, increasing density and vehicle ownership.
All of this means one thing: more pressure on an already strained system. Without action, today’s congestion will become tomorrow’s gridlock. The good news is that the solution is practical and does not require major disruption.
Instead of trying to manage traffic after it builds at Mukesh Chowk, the smarter approach is to reduce the build-up in the first place by distributing the traffic load closer to its destination points. This can be done by creating an additional exit from the Coastal Road directly
onto Napean Sea Road for traffic headed towards Napean Sea Road, Malabar Hill & Walkeshwar.
This is made possible by the existence of public land currently under the possession of MSRDC, situated between Priyadarshini Park & Embassy Apartments on Napean Sea Road. The proposed exit follows a simple and efficient alignment. It begins from the southbound
carriageway of the Coastal Road, before the tunnel entry, and moves onto the reclaimed land. From there, it runs for about 1 kilometer along the edge of this land, separated from the city by a dense green buffer and the planned Coastal Gardens.
After passing Embassy Apartments, the road turns left and connects to Napean Sea Road through the wide, unobstructed frontage of the MSRDC plot. This allows traffic to disperse smoothly either towards Malabar Hill or towards Kemps Corner. Importantly, this is designed as an exit-only road. It will carry vehicles off the Coastal Road, not onto it, ensuring smooth flow without adding new conflict points. The alignment avoids built-up areas and uses
available reclaimed land, making it both efficient and sensitive to the surroundings. The Mumbai Traffic Police, after careful study have validated the possibility of this alignment & its effectiveness in decreasing traffic congestion.
This solution has already gained widespread support from residents across our neighborhoods. A civic movement called UnlockTheExit has been actively working on this for the past two years with the BMC, State Government, MLAShri M.P. Lodha and other stakeholders. As part of its efforts, the movement supports two Change.org petitions
that have gathered over 6,700 signatures & have started a physical building endorsement campaign, receiving support from over 100 building societies representing 4,300 flats within 15 days of its launch. It has also launched social media campaigns on Instagram and X to
build wider awareness & support.
For residents, the benefits are clear:
● Shorter and more predictable travel times
● Reduced congestion at key junctions
● Better access for emergency services
● Reduced delays from VIPmovement
● Overall improvement in quality of life through less traffic, noise & pollution
The Coastal Road has already delivered significant benefits. With one additional exit at Napean Sea Road, its full potential can finally be realised. You can support this initiative by:
1. Signing either of the 2 online petitions:
https://c.org/mHNN2BxYSp OR https://c.org/yqxnZxMJMW
2. Follow updates on Instagram @unlock.the.exit and X
@UnlockTheExit
3. Provide your ideas & feedback by writing into unlocktheexit.coastalroad@gmail.com
By ‘The UnlockTheExit Team’
About the Author
