Coastal road to have multiple parking slots, says civic body : Hindustan Times

As activists say road will help only car owners, officials speak of launching bus service

MUMBAI: 

Parking can be as much a nightmare as driving on the city’s roads and the upcoming costal road project is set to make the problem even worse. To tackle it, the civic body has decided to develop parking facilities along the coastal road.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said multi-level parking slots would be constructed at all 12 interchanges on the road that is being planned from Nariman Point to Kandivli. The roads near these interchanges may also be used for parking.

An interchange facilitates traffic movement from one road to another without requiring vehicles to stop.

BMC chief engineer (roads) Ashok Pawar said “These parking facilities will regulate the parking system effectively and ensure that traffic congestion does not occur at openings to the coastal road and nearby roads. We are working on the plan on how to develop these facilities.”

Activists blamed the civic agency f or i nvesting huge amounts of money to serve just 6% of Mumbai’s citizens.

Advocate Godfrey Pimenta of NGO Watchdog Foundation said, “The coastal road will mostly benefit car users, who account for just 6% of the total commuters in the city. The parking facilities will bring more cars on to the roads, which goes against the new government’s vision of developing a strong public transport system in the city.”

However, the BMC does plan to build taxi stands and bus stands at all interchanges, which can be used by commuters travelling on the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on the coastal road, officials said.

“Commuters who do not have cars could travel on the BRTS and get down at any interchange and take a taxi or public transport to go to any location in the city. The journey timeme will reduce significantly because cause of the faster BRTS and itss connectivity with other modesdes of transport,” said a civic officialfficial who requested anonymity.y.

There will be one to 122 taxi stands at every interchangege and each stand will have a standing nding capacity of 20 taxis. The BMC will build walkways to connect nnect the bus stands, parking slotsts and taxi stands with the coastall road.