Mumbai Coastal Road witnesses its first accident; no one injured
The newly-inaugurated Mumbai Coastal Road recorded its first-ever accident on Thursday afternoon, the PTI reported.
The accident was reported after a speeding car hit the wall of a tunnel. Nobody was hurt in the incident, the officials said.
The accident took place around 2.30 pm in the south-bound tunnel near its Marine Drive exit, police said, according to the PTI.
A car hit the wall and spun around, and a moment later another car dashed it, said an official.
The accident affected traffic on the Mumbai Coastal Road for some time, he said, the news agency reported on Thursday.
The Mumbai Traffic Police as well as Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials rushed to the spot and the first car, which had suffered considerable damage, was towed away.
The first phase of Coastal Road which links Worli in central Mumbai with Marine Lines in south Mumbai was inaugurated on March 11.
More than 16,000 vehicles had used the Mumbai coastal road between Worli and Marine Lines on the first day of its operation, civic officials had earlier said.
According to numbers shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 16,331 vehicles accessed the four-lane southbound carriageway of the corridor within 12 hours after it was opened to the public.
The road had witnessed its peak traffic volume between 3 pm and 4 pm, with 1,941 vehicles, equivalent to 32 vehicles per minute, plying on it, the civic body had earlier said.
In the first operational hour, only 480 vehicles, or eight per minute, used the road, while the final hour figure stood at 496.
Throughout the day, a steady flow of traffic was seen on the road, with notable spikes between noon and 1 pm, 2 pm and 3 pm and from 3 pm to 4 pm, each seeing more than 30 vehicles per minute.
The civic body has decided to keep the road open for 12 hours daily, from 8 am to 8 pm, to expedite the remaining work. It plans to open the next phase of the road for traffic in May 2024.
The 53-km-long Mumbai coastal road, being constructed till Dahisar, will help the people in saving fuel and time, besides reducing pollution, the Maharashtra CM Shinde had earlier said.
(with PTI inputs)
