2026 : The Road to Smooth Traffic
2026 : The Road to Smooth Traffic
If ChatGpt could read whispering lips of Mumbaikars then “traffic” would easily earn the title of “The most Cursed Term of Mumbai – 2025”
While other Indian cities too may have experience similar phenomenon, Mumbai traffic gets more interesting because Mumbai commuters can through films of 70s and 80s - Deewar, Manzil and Muqaddar ka Siqandar derive pleasure from visualizing their dream traffic. Other cities don’t have this luxury.
Jokes apart, what big policy level shift happened in Mumbai, post 80s ?
Around 1985, Govt of Maharashtra recognized the rights of slum dwellers. Accordingly, slum societies ready to spend their own money towards redevelopment were eligible for free allotment of land from Govt. The 1995 scheme became more liberal, the slum dwellers were eligible for a completely free home from a private developer who would be subsidized through incentive FSI from Govt.
The above brought strategic shift in citizens’ thought-process. If slum dwellers are entitled to a “free home” then why not those with legal/semi-legal ownership ? Secondly, official benefit for encroachment meant increase in encroachment on govt plots and on sides of public roads etc.
To address the first, government in late 90s allowed incentive also for redevelopment of chawls, cess buildings etc., in 2000s for Mhada buildings and later also for private societies. The second issues remained unaddressed. Thus, Mumbai had a double whammy - huge increase in density due to increased FI but reduced roads due to rising encroachment. Thus, traffic of 1970s remained only in films.
A visible impact on traffic due to incentive FSI can be seen in BKC – a planned development with an FSI of 1.33. Later, the gross FSI was increased beyond 5. While, the Govt did invest the revenues from increased FSI in infrastructure leading traffic into BKC but with no scope of road expansion within BKC, BKC from inside became a traffic nightmare . The travel time from BKC to BKC is now more than the travel time BKC to Nariman Point.
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Across Mumbai, while the traffic crawls, redevelopment is riding on an express way. Even through redevelopment has its benefits – generates revenues for the government, keeps a tab on housing prices through increased supply, these benefits remain limited without proper traffic movement. So, what is the way forward ?
a) Mega projects v/s Micro Action
Mega projects like flyovers, sea links etc. do have high visibility in media but fail to solve locals traffic issues like traffic on Saki Naka, in Lower Parel, on Dindoshi junction (Goregaon), etc.
A wholistic traffic solution lies in building roads as per the Development Plan. Many roads seen in the Development Plan of Mumbai (called DP Roads) exist only in plan – thanks to slum pocket on these DP Roads. In addition, slum structures on sides of existing roads reduce the width of existing roads.
Govt & BMC earn huge revenues from redevelopment –FSI premium, stamp duty, development charges etc. only a limited amount from redevelopment revenue is used to address the increased traffic. The need of the hour is to have regulation to mandate that a large portion of the revenues from redevelopment projects should be dedicated only towards traffic solutions- namely - relocation of eligible slum dwellers on DP Roads, on sides of existing roads etc. Opening of roads will result in substantial de-bottlenecking in local traffic.
Legal objection to relocation would not stand in courts as all eligible slum dwellers would be rehabilitated. Moreover, linking the demolition of illegal structures with the easing of city traffic would frustrate even politician objections to such demolitions.
b) Tunnels :
With technological and cost related issues now getting settled, tunnels in many cases are more viable compared to flyovers. Compared to flyovers, tunnel construction have much lower impact on traffic snarls and pollution levels. Further, on certain roads, with existing flyovers, tunnels are the only option towards decongestion. Therefore, authorities need to seriously evaluate tunnels and underpasses.
c) Strict No Parking withing 30 mts of a junction :
Auto rickshaws, ola/uber cabs and many others park their vehicles at the corner of a junction. As a result, one lane gets completely blocked, and turning vehicles need to move to the next lane which substantially slows down the traffic. A 30 mt no parking rule needs strict implementation.
d) Citizen self-action on traffic signals :
At traffic junctions, during a red signal, commuters often cross the zebra crossing and stop their vehicles far ahead. This not only blocks traffic moving in the perpendicular direction but also leaves little space for pedestrians. Addressing this problem needs some volunteers and self-discipline by citizens. Govt alone cannot find solution.
So, we hope that to be elected corporators make 2026 – an year to focus on traffic in Mumbai so that both Govt and Citizens take traffic solution as their primary task.
DEEPESH SALGIA
is the author of REAL ESTATE : The Good, The Bad and The Unanswered
The article raises a crucial policy concern on how incentive-led redevelopment has outpaced Mumbai’s transport capacity. While the critique of increased FSI and stalled DP roads is valid, the discussion can further benefit from a clearer framework on institutional accountability—specifically, which agencies are responsible for aligning land-use decisions with transport planning, and how this alignment is to be enforced. The absence of binding norms that ring-fence redevelopment revenues for mobility infrastructure remains a structural policy failure. Without statutory coordination between housing policy, transport planning, and enforcement mechanisms, incremental measures remain reactive rather than corrective. That said, deepesh the article truly deserves credit for presenting a well-argued perspective that brings much-needed policy clarity to an otherwise fragmented public discourse as Mumbai approaches 2026. Also especially if atleast in 2026 citizens fulfill thier responsibility as highlighted by you... well written ..kudos
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for you kind words of appreciation and a very detailed feedback.
DeleteYou have raised an extremely important point when you talk about "Statutory Coordination". The missing Stat Coord has been a big bottleneck in the success of urban infra projects ; Andheri flyover was one recent case.
( Also, Google does not publish your name. Can you please put in your name here OR mail it to me on deepesh.salgia@gmail.com )
This topic used to be my biggest issue before i left Mumbai after 17 yrs of commuting in the city. So i have a lot to add to your important points and solutions...:)
ReplyDeleteOne solution is missed out and thats the one the Govts deliberately overlooked for decades. Govts, state and national, earn a lot more from sale of cars bikes in their immediate terms than they probably will earn from long term public commute infrastructure projects like metros, overhead and underground.
Mumbai is said to be a linear city which has been served well by the famous "local" trains which pretty much have pretty much borne the majority of the burden of daily commute within mumbai, extending all the way to the outskirts. For the poor, and middle class and the sensible, this still is the best way to travel. All that was required and must have been proposed every decade within planning meetings, were more such options not only along, but servicing across the breadth of the city as well.
Much of this network is coming now and though i would say better late than never, i would add, this much was required perhaps at the turn of the century, by now it should have been double of this. If public travel became convenient, and parking a car legally became expensive, then more people would choose public transport and the same roads would need to carry less.
The other thing that govts have done wrong is this strange life span dictat on cars in the garb of "environment pollution". It's simply only to sell more cars. More and more cars means more cars on the road and pavements. Instead, PUC should be made stricter and incorruptible as a process, and the environmental concern should be dealt with actual pollution monitoring. If a 5yr old car is over-polluting, suspend the registration. If a well maintained 20yr old car is still polluting within limits, continue the registration.
Lastly, about my pet peeve to why roads are broken all over mumbai. Its blamed on too many cars. Well if its rubber vs asphalt/concrete/tar roads means rubber will loose. However, the thing to blame is construction material on trucks and ironically, road building process itself. This is what happens; when BMC builds roads. they take a long time to build, open trucks filled to the brim with stones ply on the roads dropping stones all over, and even after the road building process, they leave all the stones around.....Now the scenario is different, now when its the rubber vs the road, theres a stone in the middle....and each time this rubber hammer falls on this stone, it digs into the road and starts the road breaking process. This is why you will always see that wherever constructions of buldings is happening, the approach roads break into huge potholes...and same with road building....new road, rubble left around, the same rubble breaks the road in a few days and starts the process all over. I wanted to make a youtube video explaining this but havent yet.
sorry about the long comment, it started short but guess it touched a nerve ...:)
Thanks, Deepak. All the points are not only valid but also very interesting. The PUC things and longer permit period for cars is actually very important point. Govt can start allowing old cars by charging some amount that amount can be used towards road repair. This way auto lobby will be able to argue against the same.
ReplyDelete