Bandra Worli Sea Link – a photo post
The Bandra Worli sea link is meant to be an 8-lane bridge with supporting cables but as of now only 4 lanes are complete. Perhaps that is why two and three-wheelers are not allowed and there was no sign of any heavy vehicles on the bridge either. Speed is also restricted as of now, to 40 kms an hour, and this is also temporary. It is India’s first cable-stayed bridge in the open sea and should be finally complete within the year.
There have been concerns, mainly from environmentalists, but one wonders whether this bridge will set out to do what it intends to…which is save over an hour of a motorist’s time. Exit points at both ends can be problematic. And it costs Rs 50/- for one way (under 10 minutes) and Rs 75/- for a return trip the same day. If you ask me personally I am not sure that Mumbaikars needed a sea-link. The bridge has cost the country about Rs 1,800 crore.
This first photograph is taken as one enters the sea link from the Bandra side. The bridge looks beautiful although the dull light was a disadvantage while taking the pictures.
The bridge has two cable-stayed bridges, one is 600-metre-long and the other is a twin-tower. The height of the cables is said to be as high as 43-storey building.
It was quite an experience to go under the bridge…
This last photograph (at low tide) is taken at Dadar, a point which once boasted of a beach at least 30 feet in width. That was 25 years ago. Today all one sees are stones. Slowly as Mumbai’s land got reclaimed this beach kept decreasing until about 5-6 years ago it just vanished. Boulders had to be kept to prevent the sea water from entering the lanes here. I have no doubt that the bridge contributed to this ecological setback.
This particular spot at Dadar is familiar to me because I used to come here as a child to my aunt’s house. She still lives here and has no words to describe the non-existent beach. My cousins and me have spent whole days at the beach, building sand castles and playing in the water. By the time I was in my teens going in the water was out of the question as it had become dirty and every time I visited I found more and more refuse at the site. Anyway, soon there was no beach to talk about.
Beautiful as the bridge is, it cannot replace the beauty of the beaches. Human beings are using the earth for short term gains. No species on earth has the right to do this. What would I not give to travel back in time just to visit my own little beach again!
(All photographs are by me and copyrighted)
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I don’t know if the bridge is to be blamed for this. A bigger problem is the land reclamation being done by builders all over the city. I have seen entire Lokhandwala being transformed from mangrove-land when I was a kid to the posh crowded locality it is now. Till recently there was a small green patch near four bunglows which has now disappeared due to building activity. In Powar/Ghatkopar, we can see how the hills are being destroyed for new buildings.
In fact at the rate encroachments and building activity are increasing, Aarey colony and the national park land will not exist for more than 15 years.
illusivewaters, the bridge is not entirely to blame, as you said there is reclamation going on all over the place. I am not even sure whether there is any scientific study to see what parts of mumbai will get submerged because of this. – Nita
This post reminded me of my visit to the BWSL on 2 July 2009…
…Thanks for this post!
You are welcome Parth. – Nita
this is very special for every mumbai kar
It is true that man made marvels can never match the art of nature…the beach, the sea shells, the sand, the sunset, the crabs. I love beaches!!
I love nature too, immensely. It makes me feel alive. – Nita
Nita, there are two very important questions here:
1) To what extent will the bridge actually solve the bottleneck between Worli and Bandra ? I dont want to pass judgement, instead I would suggest that some citizen’s groups actually monitor the bridge and the link road and note the changes. This will give us some useful insight into how effective such projects are.
2) Will the bridge make the money back ? This was a major failure of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. We must not forget that every paisa spent on such a bridge could have theoretically been spent on better schools for Mumbai’s masses and better pay for the beleagured policemen. Of course we need such infrastructure, the middle class needs to be kept happy since it is the principal tax base and an important link in the economic engine of the country. If it was a bit more humane and socially literate, it could have been the bedrock of democracy in India.
But anyways the economic planning should be such that in the long term, the state makes its investment back. This way no section of society loses out.
Nice pics.
Vikram, there are two sides to this issue but the govt. says that after the worli to nariman point sea link is done it will be very useful indeed. So I guess once that is done we will know what is the situation. About making the money back, I don’t think that is going to happen for a long long time! However the Mumbai Pune expressway is now making money and even after so many years the road is being maintained properly. – Nita
Vikram I agree with most of the stuff which you say. I would disagree on your economic planing part. The state should eventually at some point in the future have no role in the economics of a country. The best form of Govt. is no Govt. Free markets will come to India. We need no state interference in what so ever activities and I see the influence already. Raghuram Rajan the economic advisor to Govt. India is from Univ of Chicago the birth place of free markets. Capitalism is the only way we progress. If fishermen have to leave Bombay because they cannot afford the rising prices then they have to no subsidies for them. It means you are in the wrong job. Get retail vegitable stores all across the country if local bhajiwalas loose their jobs then they have to find other work that is how capitalism works. there have to be free markets and India will have them soon. People like me will work toward free markets in India that is the only way we progress and get out of poverty not through central planing and govt controls and by shouting to protect every sect of workforce which gets out of business due to a major corporation’s business.
Hi Vikram,
I don’t agree with you and I’m afraid the whole capitalist world might agree with me after the near death experience of the American economy. The main reasons for this are thus:
1) Capitalism believes that competition ultimately overrules any discrepancies in the society and paves the way for an equilibrium. However the ironic part is that capitalism is again largely governed by companies or individuals who are profit minded unlike the government of a country (at least in theory). So in the quest for superior profits companies might err and end up messing the whole system which was exactly what happened in the American economy crash situation.
2) Imagine the chaos it would create if there is no governing body. Imagine a class of kids without the teacher. There is no difference in these two situations except the age and level of maturity. However, both these demographics behave in much the same way if left on their own.
So I believe the best form of society is a governed capitalism: the banking industry in India where huge multinational banks are free to compete and use different strategies as long as it is gets an RBI’s ‘YES’.
These are my personal thoughts. Would be curious to know your response. Take care.
Hi Nita, good post. I am probably wrong in saying this, but, it feels like the government is trying to tell the citizens of India(as it has been doing since independence) that if they don’t have bread, they can have cake.
thats a good one and describes the situation exactly! We are getting some icing too, a gigantic statue of Shivaji (like the statue of Liberty in the US) out there in the sea very soon. Its going to cost a humongous amount. – Nita
awesome pictures, Nita! The bridge is impressive, but at the same time one feels do dominated by the man-made construction… I can feel very well how you miss the sweet little beach…
thanks Axinia. – Nita
I dont know much about Mumbai, but if it saves that much commute time for people, the damage to the environment might be worth it. I suppose development does come at a price.
There were news reports on the bad condition of the roads leading to an accident a few days back. I wonder if you noticed any significant potholes on the newly built bridge.
Thanks for posting the pictures. Quite impressive.
AD, I agree that the bridge is very impressive, something to be proud of. However regarding its usefulness only time will tell. And no I did not see any potholes on the road at all. The road is made of tar though, not concrete, and I am not sure why. Perhaps this too is a temporary thing. – Nita
amreekandesi,
//if it saves that much commute time for people, the damage to the environment might be worth it. I suppose development does come at a price.//
For what percentage of the people does it save commute time? And this business of development coming at a price — it is always the disadvantaged majority who pay the price for developments that benefit the privileged few. And this is not about Rs. 50 one-way and Rs. 75 return.
Nita,
Wrt your response to AD, you seem to have missed the following, which appeared in the Indian Express just a day earlier:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/25-days-on-sea-link-top-layer-starts-to-peel-off/494193/
Thanks er…Civicus. That was an eye-opener. – Nita
Great pics,I feel we need to have all the infrastructure needed to decongest roads.Regarding environmental issues it will be better to think what we have in hand like maintainence of parks,existing beaches,lakes …etc.
Thanks Kumar. As you said there must be a govt body overseeing the maintenance and development of parks and beaches, but if there is one, they aren’t doing their jobs. – Nita
Any argument can be persuasive only if all options are explored and the results based on pure facts. The effect of constructing a sea link on the environment needs to be evaluated by scientific explanation.
Also, these sort of projects are long term investments, say 50 – 60 years or so.
Thanks Gurpreet. There have been studies but unfortunately I do not have access to them. In any case environmental groups have little clout in India, that is my reading. – Nita
Nice pics Nita. Thx for sharing. 🙂
welcome! 🙂 – Nita
Environmentalism has had a rethink in the recent years. In the past it was about greening some uninhabited land or abandoned mining area. Now city mayors gather in San Francisco to talk about green cities.
San Francisco and Portland (Oregon) are the top cities in the US in this matter. I have been to Portland and the greenery is magnificent. San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom is an ardent environmentalist himself. Envrronmentalism pays in bringing in investments. Well, for obvious reasons, the oil companies moved their head quarters away. But the low scale startups and companies like google rush to such places.
There are plans for using tidal energy, “underwater wind” energy ( a little controversial this) and there is already a solid incentive to go solar in small scale uses. The public transport has already gone green. Hybrids are yesterday’s technology, according to Gavin. I forgot what he mentioned about tomorrow’s technology.
Do we have such thinkers for Mumbai?
Vinod, there are people here who are passionate but unfortunately they are not the politicians who are the ones who have the power. Actually greening is something that improves the quality of life, just as a bridge does. Greening I feel need not have a cap on it, naturally, but when it comes to building bridges I feel one has to be very careful. I know of several flyovers in Mumbai and Pune which are useless. They have been built in a hurry. I pray that the sea link does turn out to be a boon in the long term. – Nita
Nita, this bridge has the unique distinction of having been renamed the day it was born.Please,it is now Rajeev Gandhi……….whatever.
Bombay builders lobby has already done enough damage by reclamation…..remember Nariman point area.
As for the cost is concerned,I beleive it is almost two and half times greater than the original budget estimates.I personally do not worry about the cost.Every project,perhaps,carries certain”tips” for the netas and why not?We only got them in.
Time will tell if the renamed bridge will solve the traffic problem or not.It depends upon how many years of traffic increase estimates have been taken in to account(i have my doubts).
At least we can be proud of having the first sea bridge named after our late PM at the cost of Rs 18000 crores. Cheers
BKC, If anyone has to give his name to the bridge, I think it can be the person who conceived the idea. Its silly to drag people who already have hundreds of things named after them! And as for the 18000 crores, yeah that was on my mind too, the money which was eaten by the netas. – Nita
No congressman can ever claim credit for anything.It is always either Soniaji or second choice is Rahulbhaiya.Let us wait for an additional name coming up in future Priyankadidi.
Brilliant post Nita, thanks! Having just returned from Delhi, and never been to Mumbai, this information gathered by you is truly refreshing. I now have a little more insights about places like Bandra Worli etc. I have witnessed similar bridge designs in Penang, Malaysia and Clearwater beach, Tampa Florida.
Conservation is key to human and nature preservation. It’s a chain of circle-unfortunately- that has turned into a “vicious” cycle. There should be action taken for polluting the environment. It should not be taken so lightly.
p/s: I have a new website now at http://kirantarun.com. Would be glad if you could update my bookmark 🙂
Hi Kiran, and thanks. I guess a balance needs to be struck between nature and modernisation but one has little faith that this is being done. – Nita
Great pictures, Nita! Would love to see higher resolutions of them.
By the time our generation was growing up, beaches meant places outside Bombay! 🙂
Mahendra, thanks. If you want any I can email them to you. and it is sad about the beaches isn’t it. Though now I believe they have cleaned up chowpatty and Juhu, the more commercial beaches. – Nita
Mahendra,
I there is a need, there is a way. I think same thought coming to American’s while construction of “Golden Gate” in San Francisco. But the baker Beach, is suppose to be hot spot, form where you can admire beauty of the bridge, after sunset.
Its not Death of Beaches, its only thing, its new, it will take some time to be part of landscape.
Sunny, the problem here is there doesn’t seem to be any need! 🙂
The Chowpatty and Juhu places hardly qualify as beaches for me. A beach = long, tranquil, empty spaces of sand, sea, and surf. Sigh.
There are plans to build something like this in Chennai…a elevated road along the sea coast…but I doubt if it will materialize..But to solve our traffic problems , we would need to have public transport which would be able to handle and seat people comfortably …
public transport is what I believe in too. – Nita
I just remember reading some article on this bridge construction, saying Chinese firm was keen on building this bridge, within 6 months. But just that govt. had different plans (Elections). That there was no profit deal.
Infrastructure industry in India, even with private builders and firm actually bad(S*ks). cannot neglect recent cases and accidents.
Across the world construction is good, then by the most intellect species on earth (Indians) so called can get best for themselves.
Sunny, yeah I guess the MH govt has elections on its mind!- Nita
i dont care losing time to spend in beaches instead of spending in freaking traffic every day for rest of my life
thats a cool bridge.
It took a long time to complete and then inaugurate it. The new hero honda ad says it all !
It took a long time mainly because of a lot of litigation I believe. Lets hope that this bridge lives up to its hype. – Nita
Technology is manipulation of nature for human needs. Now which is greater need, its decision is up to you. You want beautiful beaches or you want slum
free mumbai. I think whenever any infrastructure develops, it should act as economy propogation system to the high class to low class people with some added comforts to high class. If it does not serves in this way, it deserves no value.
Amit414, well it needn’t always be like that. There should be a balance. – Nita
The pictures are really nice. But on a personal note, I think that nice’ty’ ends there itself.
10 years for a bridge that will very soon, shall not be able to accomodate the traffice it was initially planned for?
Our country’s planner really need to look into the ways planning is done in China and other efficient countries.
Till then…happy clicking for people like us… 🙂
Thanks Dev. yeah, and don’t forget movie directors who will enjoy the bridge shots! – Nita
Spending Rs. 1800 Crore to improve mass transportation in Mumbai would have been more beneficial to the masses than the Sea Link which helps only a percentage of Mumbai’s population.
Taji, I think this bridge is in a way a status symbol for Mumbai. 😦 – Nita
Once again the man made wonder turned into nature disaster…
dont know when we are going to learn 😦
Never! Okay, not never. But certainly only after some disaster! – Nita
Nicely captured photos .. Great work, Nita ..
Yes, the bridge is half-complete and it was inaugarated for short-term gain keeping in mind the assembly elections of Maharashtra next year .. But all said and done, it is beautifully built and it’s another feather in the cap of the dream city Mumbai ..
You are also right in saying that beaches, lands, natural beauties are becoming merely non-existitent due to our rat-race .. But do we have any option left ?? .. Now we are over a billion and we need land to build homes and offices .. we need a place to stay and to earn .. so we need to cut down trees, forests etc ..
To give shelter to human beings gets more priority than saving and protecting forests etc ..
But we are the one to blame for this disaster , don’t we??
Soham, thanks. About the needs of human beings yes you have a point but I think it has gone beyond that now. If one talks of just needs, well you reminded me of a post I wrote some time back about what human beings really need to lead a comfortable life and what they need as status symbols. I think if a public transport system is comfortable and fast everyone in Mumbai will use it, rich and poor. In fact about a decade back the upper classes frequently used the locals and the buses, but its become unbearable\ly crowded now. I have myself used the locals for years, but now its become too difficult. – Nita
Nita:
As an engineer, I never cease to be amazed by great bridges such as in Edinburgh, the Forth Road bridge; in San Francisco, the GGB; in France, the Millau Viaduct.
But as evidence from the world over suggests, building more roads brings more cars into circulation (the irony of that word being the French word for traffic!). At dinner the other day, friends and I were discussing that everything else can improve but no commuters anywhere in the world will ever tell you their commute has got better for the new roads including toll roads.
The sustainable answer is in better mass rapid transit systems. The money, for Bombay, could have been better spent on improving the lifelines, the local trains – giving them better rolling stock, more frequent service, and better travelling conditions. But from a distance, it seems to me that all planning is to match some bizarre models of development, benefiting those who did not even get out to vote after the biggest disaster the city of Bombay endured. Go figure, as they say in America!
Shefaly, I agree with that. Anyday I would like to travel by train, it would be faster and cheaper. Just yesterday I spent hours in the car on the way to town and if I had been in a train I would have reached in half the time. I think our MH govt. is bent on showing off. They also want to built some gigantic shivaji statue off the coast of Mumbai. These are not just plans anymore. Its been approved. I guess they want a similar skyline to that of foreign cities! – Nita
the beach in dadar gone ? what a shame !
and was this constructed by rahul gandhi’s construction company and then called rajiv gandhi bridge ( i am assuming the name of the bridge other than the link road.) because i am not reading any name
i can only read Gol-Maal in all this.
after one more generation – ie, another 30 years, this will come back to haunt the citizens.
only if the number of railway track were increased to another 4 more tracks ( i know there are slums on either side ) it would have been more optimal.
Anrosh, its called the rajiv gandhi bridge and I deliberately avoided putting up a picture of that name! I just don’t see what Rajiv G has to do with this bridge! And thank you for your first line. – Nita
Hi Nita,
Let me add my two bit here.
As a regular user of this bridge, I save no time in the morning. If I am lucky a five – seven minute saving is all that I can squeeze out from this Rs. 1664 crs (official estimate) BWSL.
In the evenings, initially, I could save about 30 minutes but slowly this is now about 20 minutes.
All in all a pleasant driving experience but once you are off the bridge on either side you run into normal slow moving bumper to bumper traffic.
I can confirm one thing. The paving was bad or poorly done and pot holes appeared within about two weeks. By today there are atleast a dozen patches which have been worked on.
The construction has been delayed beyond all limits and frankly the utility is debatable. All this with just one side complete. The second side would probably take another 18 months.
Now to answer the question….Why the hell am I driving a vehicle on that bridge?…simple..the public transport is in a mess and I feel driving to office saves me the bother.
Sure enough Rs. 1500 crs spent on good public transport would have probably served half a million commuters instead of just 25,000 car owners today.
Mavin, thanks a lot for that sharing that experience. I can sense your frustration. However I think things will get better once both sides of the bridge open.And also once the nariman point stretch is done, it will be smoother at the worli exit point at least. However like Shefaly mentioned now you could get more cars…and the nano is coming! So God knows what will happen in the next 10 years. – Nita
Mavin and Nita:
Your experience sounds disappointing.
I am curious as to whose budget the BWSL was funded out of. I believe the money for Delhi Metro was centrally allocated and not taken from the State’s pot of pennies. Which may have contributed to its rapid progress as a project which was not messed about by local politicians much.
Understanding the budgetary issues may help us a bit towards understanding the pressures that might have driven the allocation of money to the sea link over the local train system.
Thanks.
Shefaly, the MH govt is funding this partly I believe the amount is just over 500 crores but the rest is coming from the centre but I am not sure about this. But I think the govt. seriously thinks that this sealink is going to be very useful. And it might even be after the stretch from Worli to Nariman point is built. Even then, ofcourse, the money being spend is far too much considering the pathetic state of the public transport. – Nita
Mavin,
It is nice to know of such concrete first-hand experiences. So overall, would you say that for you the BWSL is value for money or not, in terms of the proportion of your daily commute it accounts for, amount of fuel saved, relative freedom from air and noise pollution and escape from frayed nerves from driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic for at least part of the trip?
Incidentally, since starting to use the BWSL, have you had occasion to check out how much of a real difference it has made to conditions on Mahim Causeway?
Just out of curiosity, from where to where is your daily trip to work?
I think allocation of funds to the right projects and utilizing them efficiently, is something that Indians are very bad at! Do you see how much scrutinization and debate is going on at the bottom level of jobs/ minor things but these important issues and their decisions are never debated!! We need a more open project management system in India.
Destination Infinity
DI, thats a good point. Major contracts are given out and there is no transparency. Now that so many accidents have happened on the Metro in Delhi I wonder whether there are any other problems that are being hidden from the public. – Nita
Good post Nita , You could have also included if possible information like which company constructed it ,what was the initial estimated cost and how ahead or behind schedule the construction was completed.
Charakan, thanks. About the facts and details they are available at the links which I have provided. In fact one of the links even has details such as operating costs. – Nita
Thanks for the pics Nita…Indeed fascinating….
Regarding the funds spents,I am not sure of my own opinion..The point said is anologous to what some say that space exploration is a waste of money and effort..I don’t know if its right or wrong…
massive! massive! now one more reason why one should prefer a window seat on any mumbai to south flight.
better they take time and build rather than build in a hurry to keep political targets and let crash later (delhi metro)
Win some, lose some! problem with us humans is we just want to win and don’t realize how much we lose… no long term or futuristic approach! Our future generation will pay for what we do today!
Sakhi,
U are right, there are many things where we think from short lived approach. Anything with concrete will last for 100 years at least. so you know who will be facing song.
Oh forgot to mention, the pics are awesome! 🙂
While I was replying to comments I deleted one comment by mistake, and I think it was a second comment by Kumar. I am sorry Kumar but it happened because I was in a hurry.
I think I shall go and have a cuppa tea before replying to more comments. And then I have to also write a post which is half done as of now.
Just got a new laptop and am finding it difficult to manoeuvre the touch pad.
It’s Okay. What i am saying is their should be a government body to save,take care & maintain all the parks,beaches,river/lake side gardens with a 24×7 guards as we see most of these public places end up with criminal activites.
Nita, I am saying about the situation of the pedestrian ways/footpaths in indian cities it is pathetic as their are no footpaths or the existant footpaths have been demolished to extend the road for the motor traffic or the footpaths are occupied by hawkers, or the footpaths have been urinated.Bicycle and pedestrian ways have been ignored by our civic bodies.
I remember reading in a newspaper sometime back that some journalists divided in a group of two and tried both the routes – Via the bridge and the regular one.
According to them too, there was not much difference in peak hours.
Aren’t there any kind of studies before such projects start? It seems like a waste of money.
Amit:
I am curious. Apart from a computer simulation of traffic – which will probably never approximate Bombay traffic with any reliability – how can useful comparative tests be conducted between bridge/ not-bridge before the bridge exists?
Also as I mentioned before, the data from the world over show that cars/ traffic increases, never eases, as more roads are provided. So there is one variable that always increases.
This Study is not valid as the relative camparative study needs to be done before the bridge is operational and after the bridge is operational..
They had done the study after the bridge is operational and the traffic already got divided between causeway and sealink.if sealink is not their all the traffic will be thru causeway then we can find the difference.their will be difference if we compare before bridge is operational.
Nita, though this is unrelated to this post, I thought you may be interested in this link. It’s got pictures of old Bombay: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1500_1599/bombay/streetsphotos/streetsphotos.html
Some other interesting links(if you are interested in history): http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/malabar/malabar.html
I WOULD SAY THE BRIDGE WAS NOT A WANT , IT WAS A NEED … GIVEN DAT DUE TO THE BRIDGE THE ECO SYSTEM HAS GOT HIT BUT COULD IT BE HELPED ? I MEAN IN ORDER TO MAKE FLYOVERS IN MUMBAI WE DID CUT DOWN A LOT OF TREES BUT THEN IT COULD NOT BE HELPED COULD IT ?