PM to launch work on Mumbai's GMLR tunnel; project to slash east-west commute by hour

Exactly a year after it was announced in July 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch work on the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s planned partly-underground Rs. 6,300 crore Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR), here on Saturday evening.

The GMLR will directly link the Western Express Highway at Goregaon with the Eastern Express Highway at Mulund and slash the peak hour commute from the current 85-90 minutes to barely 20-25 minutes, officials said.

Comprising a twin-tunnel passing under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the GMLR would provide a fourth critical link between the north-eastern and north-western suburbs of Mumbai, giving another major infrastructure project to the city.

Incidentally, this will be the second tunnel coming inside the SGNP, - the other being the proposed twin-tube tunnel for the Borivali-Thane link road - which will also be shown the green signal by the PM on Saturday.

As far as the current status of the GMLR link is concerned, stretches of roads of varying width are presently operational on both sides – from the Eastern Express Highway to the Khindipada Junction and from the Western Express Highway to the Film City.

However, the stretch between Film City and Khindipada Junction was identified as the "missing link" which the BMC will now connect through the twin-tunnel running under the SGNP hills at depths of 25-160 metres.

The total length of the six-lane GMLR shall be around 13.25 km, and it will be 45.7 metres wide, with the 4.70 km-long twin-tunnel portion to be dug through TBMs.

This will be done to avoid disturbing the eco-sensitive region, where the Tulsi and Vihar lakes supplying drinking water to the city are located, besides being home to the rich wildlife inside SGNP, including leopards.

An important feature will be two water mainlines of 1,800-mm diameter in each tunnel to carry drinking water from the Bhandup Complex to the western suburbs, plus mechanical ventilation, advanced fire-fighting and fire-resistance systems, CCTV, two control rooms on each side and special green corridors for safe passage of wild animals near the Film City area.

In the last few decades, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has developed three major east-west links – the Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Andheri Ghatkopar Link Road (AGLR), and Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR), which have now become saturated, necessitating the GMLR, said officials.

The officials said that work on the GMLR mega-project is expected to be completed in five years, giving the shortest and quickest link between Goregaon and Mulund, affording huge savings in time, fuel and other advantages.

The GMLR would result in slashing carbon emissions by around 23,000 tons annually, decongest traffic on both highways and in the northern suburbs, as well as ease vehicular movements on the SCLR, AGLR and JVLR.