Mumbai Coastal Road (Dharmavir Savarkar Marg)

Mumbai built its way into the sea to get traffic moving. The Coastal Road, officially Dharmavir Savarkar Marg, runs 10.58 km of eight-lane freeway along the city’s western shore, stitching together reclaimed land, twin bored tunnels under Malabar Hill, and an offshore bridge. Phase 1 opened in stages from March 2024, and the full corridor plus most of its seafront promenade was inaugurated on India’s Independence Day in August 2025.

Project Scope

The route links Marine Drive in the south to the Bandra–Worli Sea Link in the north, replacing a chronically choked surface drive. Two of its lanes are reserved for bus rapid transit, a rare commitment to public transport inside a road this size.

The engineering headline is the tunnel. Crews drove two 2.07-km tubes beneath Malabar Hill and Girgaon using one of the largest tunnel boring machines deployed in India, threading under a dense, historic neighborhood without disturbing what sits above. Larsen & Toubro delivered packages 1 and 4; an HCC–Hyundai Development Corporation joint venture built package 2. Much of the alignment sits on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea, with interchanges, an underground car park, and a continuous public promenade along the new edge.

Why It Matters

This is one of the most expensive urban road projects India has built, and it doubles as a coastal-defense and public-space program. The reclamation created a hard sea edge plus parkland the city didn’t have. The BRT lanes and the promenade are a bet that a coastal freeway can serve more than cars.

It also sets a template for Mumbai’s next moves north. Paired with the Atal Setu Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, the city is assembling a connected coastal network at a pace few megacities have matched. For the contractors who proved out deep-bore tunneling and large-scale marine reclamation here, the experience is the real asset, because Phase 2 up the coast is already in motion.

Project Team & Details