NHAI will soon Rank Roads, Economic Corridors for Safety & Mobility

1. NHAI will soon Rank Roads, Economic Corridors for Safety & Mobility In a bid to provide safety and better mobility to highway motorists, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon start ranking roads periodically on various parameters, including safety management. The ranking is akin to the audits of national highways, and will comply with global standards, such as those of the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) for expressway auditing. Under the new initiative, projects on the economic corridors of Delhi-Vadodara (1,428 km), Agra-Mumbai (964 km; 24,329 average car traffic), and Mumbai-Kolkata (1,854 km; 19,029 average car traffic) will be audited first and later extended to highway projects on other economic corridors once the success rate of the ranking is established. The ranking will be done by measuring road length and width, among other parameters, using modern technology such as road survey vehicles. In February 2018, the National Highways Authority of India had launched a similar ranking system for assessing Toll plaza infrastructure. The audit was performed to address issues that affect highway users, such as ease of toll payment, electronic toll collection systems and FASTag lanes efficiency, plaza cleanliness, Toll staff behaviour, adequacy of security forces, restroom hygiene, Wayside Amenities, and availability of ambulances and cranes in case of emergencies. The highway operations division of the NHAI launched the drive on more than 300 toll plazas. The ranking system, according to sector experts, would create a competitive atmosphere for providing the best service to highway users. The new ranking system for economic corridors and highway infrastructure is similar. The upcoming Indian undertaking will use the EuroRAP as a (approximate) model. The non-profit European system was launched in four nations and later was extended to 20 countries. “It provides risk ratings and star ratings for major rural roads. The objectives of the program are to reduce road fatality and serious injury on roads through systematic testing of risk that identifies major safety shortcomings, which can be addressed through road improvement measures.” EuroRAP provides a systematic audit of the road network, understanding of the sources of risk, and indicates the priorities for network improvement. The new ranking system is being put in place as the Central government, through the NHAI, had launched a slew of highway projects such as Wayside Amenities, Electronic Toll Collection, Incident Management System, drones for highways, Sukhad Yatra, India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMTTH), Bharatmala Pariyojna, and more. Reports reveal that “the previous fiscal has been a successful one for the NHAI as the authority awarded 150 projects, covering 7,400 km worth Rs 1.22 trillion. The reports also claim the number was an all-time high since its inception in 1995. In the last five years, the average length of road projects awarded by the NHAI has been 2,860 km.” “Out of the projects awarded, 3,791 km was awarded in Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) mode for Rs 430 billion. Around 3,396 km was awarded in Hybrid Annuity (HBA) mode for Rs 765 billion and 209 km in Toll mode for Rs 25 billion.” #FASTag #SukhadYatra #Tollplazas