Mumbai’s ₹630 crore Juhu Circle flyover project, aimed at streamlining east-west connectivity between Barfiwala Lane and the Juhu-Versova Link Road, has triggered significant anxiety among local residents, who claim the bridge will do little to ease congestion while worsening conditions on the ground.
Conceived as a crucial node connecting Mumbai’s high-speed corridors—including the Coastal Road and the upcoming Bandra-Versova Sea Link—the flyover is being positioned by civic authorities as a long-awaited mobility solution. But community voices on the ground tell a more conflicted story.First proposed in 2016, the flyover has undergone a series of iterations. Initial designs, which involved routing the structure underneath Metro 2B’s elevated line, were eventually abandoned due to engineering limitations. A later alignment through Airports Authority land was scrapped in 2023 after it was found to violate height restrictions. With limited options left, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) returned to a parallel alignment with the Metro 2B line.
Now set to begin near Juhu Galli and merge with the Juhu-Versova Link Road, the revamped flyover is expected to cut travel time from Juhu to Andheri and onwards to the Western Express Highway (WEH) from 45 minutes to 10. While that sounds promising for long-distance commuters, residents in the vicinity argue that the infrastructure upgrade is not inclusive and may sacrifice local functionality for regional flow.Milaan Vigraham, a long-time resident and civic advocate, questioned the logic behind the project. “The roads here are barely three lanes wide, and the flyover’s construction will eat up two of them. It leaves a single narrow lane for all local movement, which is highly unsustainable,” he said. “This bridge caters to through traffic, not to the community that lives and works here.”
According to urban planners, the project also overlooks several key arteries—like Gulmohar Road, NS Road Number 10, and CES Marg—that contribute heavily to congestion at Juhu Circle. With no integrated signal redesign or coordination across these approach roads, the flyover risks becoming yet another point of stress rather than relief.Moreover, residents are concerned about the environmental cost. The alignment through the Juhu-Versova Link Road will require the felling of trees, adding to Mumbai’s long list of green cover losses in the name of infrastructure development. Activists had earlier petitioned the BMC to explore sustainable alternatives, including shorter signal cycles and the long-promised arterial roads outlined in the Development Plan 2034, but with limited traction, the protest has largely lost steam.
Architect and activist Nitin Killawala, who had supported alternatives, said, “In a city already suffering from overbuilt infrastructure and underthought planning, this flyover is more of a shortcut than a solution.”Still, some professionals see merit in the project. Mahindra Chawla, an architect who commutes through Juhu Circle, believes the flyover will benefit the majority of users. “Eighty percent of the traffic at the junction is inter-suburban. The locals may be inconvenienced, but the bigger picture is faster flow for the city at large,” he said.
The BMC remains confident that the design will divert enough traffic from the surface roads to ease pressure at the junction. “Once linked with the Bandra-Versova Sea Link, commuters will have seamless access to the Western Express Highway,” said an official from the bridge department. “We are building for tomorrow’s traffic, not just today’s.”
As Mumbai continues to grapple with balancing high-speed urban mobility and local equity, the Juhu Circle flyover stands as a test case for whose interests get priority in the city’s race for modernisation. The verdict from the ground, however, remains divided.
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