For the countless Mumbaikars who brave the daily grind between Thane and Borivali, the infamous Ghodbunder Road is less a highway and more a test of patience. The serpentine queues of traffic and the hours slipping away have become a frustrating part of life. But a monumental change is carving its way deep beneath the city’s green lungs, promising to transform this 90-minute ordeal into a breezy 15-minute drive.
The game-changer is the ambitious Thane–Borivali twin tunnel project, which, according to officials at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), is progressing at a remarkable pace.
Bypassing the Ghodbunder Road Gridlock
The 24-kilometre stretch of Ghodbunder Road is the only direct link connecting the Eastern and Western Express Highways. It’s a critical artery, but one that is chronically clogged. During peak hours, a journey that should take 30 minutes easily balloons to an hour and a half, sometimes even two hours. This daily traffic jam drains fuel, time, and the mental well-being of commuters.
The Thane–Borivali twin tunnel project aims to surgically bypass this entire problem. The 11.8-kilometre-long corridor will connect Tikuji-ni-Wadi in Thane directly to the Western Express Highway (WEH) at Borivali, creating a seamless, signal-free route.
A Sustainable Marvel: Tunnelling Under SGNP
The masterstroke of this engineering marvel is its route: it will run entirely underneath the lush Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). By tunnelling deep below the national park, the project achieves two critical goals:
- It creates the shortest, most direct route possible between the two bustling suburbs.
- It ensures the fragile ecosystem of SGNP remains completely untouched, with no felling of trees or disruption to its rich biodiversity on the surface.
Project Update: How Fast is the Tunnel Progressing?
Giant Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) are working round-the-clock, carving out the twin tunnels. Sources within the MMRDA have confirmed that the project has crossed significant milestones, with the TBMs excavating several kilometres of the tunnel, putting the project firmly on track and reinforcing the “speeds ahead” status.
An MMRDA spokesperson commented, “This is more than just a piece of infrastructure; it’s a new lifeline for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The progress has been steady, and we are deploying best-in-class technology to ensure safety, efficiency, and ecological sensitivity. The 15-minute travel time is not a distant dream; it is the reality we are building towards.”
Transforming Daily Commutes: Key Benefits for Mumbaikars
The impact of this tunnel will be transformative for the entire region.
- Massive Time Savings: Reclaiming over an hour each way from your daily commute translates to more time with family, for leisure, or for work. The travel time drop from 90 to 15 minutes is the project’s primary advantage.
- Fuel and Cost Efficiency: A shorter, signal-free route means significantly less fuel consumption, putting money back into the pockets of daily travellers.
- Decongestion and Cleaner Air: By diverting a huge volume of traffic underground, the project will drastically reduce congestion on Ghodbunder Road. This will lead to a considerable drop in vehicular pollution.
- Economic Boost: The seamless connectivity will undoubtedly boost real estate and commercial activity on both sides of the tunnel, further integrating the eastern and western suburbs.
For daily commuters like Anjali Sharma, a software professional who travels from Thane to Malad, the news is a beacon of hope. “I spend almost three hours every day just travelling. This tunnel will give me my life back,” she says. “The thought of reaching Borivali in 15 minutes feels like science fiction right now, but I am eagerly waiting.”
The light at the end of this tunnel is no longer a faint glimmer. As the Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel speeds ahead, it isn’t just cutting through rock; it is paving the way for a faster, smarter, and more connected Mumbai.
