Mumbai's SCLR Phase 2 connector is open, but so is a new traffic jam

Mumbai's ever-expanding roadway network just got a new addition. The much-awaited four-lane elevated connector – Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) Phase 2 – opened to motorists on August 13. And well, the traffic simply relocated.

The road links Bharat Nagar, Kurla, BKC and Vakola, promising better connectivity to the Western Express Highway. But as vehicles began piling into the new corridor, congestion built up almost immediately at Valmiki Nagar and NABARD junction.

The project was meant to ease traffic between Kala Nagar and Vakola while offering a faster link to WEH. On day one, though, it reportedly got very crowded at BKC's NABARD junction and along Valmiki Nagar Road, particularly where the elevated stretch descends and merges into WEH traffic. The spillover soon reached the Kurla side too.

The city's newest bottleneck

For anyone who's ever stood on a road corner willing an auto to appear, the difference is hard to miss. A journey from NABARD to Bandra Colony Metro Station on Aqua Line 3, which used to take five minutes, now takes ten to fifteen. And this is apparently just the warm-up. Not everyone's caught on to the new route yet, and traffic police expect things to get worse before they get better as more commuters discover it.

What's next for Mumbai's transport

While SCLR Phase 2 settles into its new role in the city's transport network, another major project has joined the queue: the Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel. The Maharashtra government recently launched a second tunnel boring machine, Arjuna, for the project, which will bore twin tunnels beneath Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali, creating a direct road link between Borivali and Thane. Once complete, it's expected to cut travel time from roughly 90 minutes to just 15, and trim the distance from about 23km to 11km.