Thane city is amongst the fastest growing commercial and residential areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Thane Suburban Station is now the busiest station on the suburban railway network in Mumbai handling as many as 3.75 lakh commuters daily. The streets in their current configuration are not able to handle the volume and mix of traffic which is resulting in high levels of vehicular congestion as well as pedestrians having to walk on the vehicular right of way due to overcrowding on the footpaths. Recognising this, the city has identified 13 km of streets to be re-designed employing complete streets design philosophy.

 

Reclaiming the public space on these streets for people remains the core essence of the street redesign. Through this exercise in the overall 13 km of streets in Thane, a substantial area of 11.32 acres of pedestrian realm was introduced, which includes walking and cycling space. In addition to this, 1236 new trees, 4.68 acres of newly landscape areas within the streets, 512 seating areas, a new 1-acre contiguous park along the Lakefront has been proposed. All of this has been achieved purely by reconfiguring the Right-of-Ways of existing streets. The Thane Smart City Limited has started with the initial works to implement the first 4km of streets, which will initiate the significant transformation in the Thane station area.