MMRDA begins study on Mumbai traffic requirements

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has commissioned a study to predict the traffic requirements of Mumbaikars right up to 2031.

The study, known as the City Traffic Survey (CTS), was conducted on a sample of 65,000 households across the entire MMR region. The survey is expected to come up with a road and rail transportation model, which would be implemented from 2016 onwards and should work till 2021 and 2031.

CTS will also suggest short- and medium-term investment horizons - up to 2011 and 2016. The survey is funded by the World Bank under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) and is based on land use patterns and travel demands of households in the sample survey. Nearly 60,000 households have already been surveyed, while the remaining 5,000 households will be surveyed by the month-end.

A senior MMRDA official involved with the study said that both, the analysis as well as the transport model, are likely to be ready in a month. To accommodate the city's burgeoning population, it will suggest a-rail-and-road transport strategy.

By 2031, Mumbai is expected to be home to 34 million people, almost double that of the current 18 million.

CTS will form the basis of further studies for extending the metro rail system to cover the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region and water transportation systems within the city, utilising the seafronts and the numerous small rivers that flow through the city.