Development of Smart Highways for Smart Future by Akhilesh Srivastava

1. Development of Smart Highways for Smart Future by Akhilesh Srivastava National highways are the life-lines of our country’s transportation, trade, and travel. So the concept of “smart highways” and “smart roads” hold a lot of potential in India. In the recent era of digital innovation, it has become essential for the National Highways in India to cope up with the transformation. The “smart highways” sector will effectively use information technology, which is expected to be automated, and interactive. Under the supervision of Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (IT & Highway Operation), NHAI, has taken few initiatives to redesign the Indian Highways. The most significant improvement of the highway commute experience is the technological innovation and their effective implementation. The new initiatives introduced by Akhilesh Srivastava are: Incorporation of RFID-enabled Electronic Toll Collection system aka FASTag The pilot on GPS-enabled tolling system between the Delhi-Mumbai corridor Implementation of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) on NHs Implementation of Advanced Emergency Incident Management System on NHs Wayside Amenities Mega-project Hi-tech monitoring/planning, operations, and maintenance of NHs His effort for the modernising the transport industry is endorsed by the Indian Government. The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) has bestowed the Vishwakarma Award in “Public Officer” category to him. His efforts of modernising the Highway sector by integration of IT in Highway Projects to escalate speed & quality of construction is acclaimed. He has implemented many other projects like Road Asset Management System (RAMS) and Incident Management System (IMS) FASTag, etc. FASTag provided a non-stop journey on the highways, travellers are happy with the services of the toll plaza operators. Radio Frequency Identification technology digitises the money transaction in the toll and reduced the woes of using cash. The entire nation is calibrating the same concept in all the National Highways and the head of the Highway Operations Division, Mr Akhilesh Srivastava has been mobilizing the same ideas further. For the efficient management of the existing facilities and highways assets, the NHAI has created a new division called the Highway Operation Division; it primarily focuses on all non- commercial operational activities. This Division is headed by the CGM (IT & Highway Operations) Shri Akhilesh Srivastava, who is the in-charge for the effective implementation of Electronic tolling, Wayside amenities, Road safety and security, Traffic management & other modern amenities like WiFi on the national highways. Mr Akhilesh Srivastava also implemented ODR in the construction sector of India. He easily identifies the outstanding opportunity of ODR as a viable option in resolving construction disputes. With lots of disputes in the construction sector, modernisation is not possible in time, as resolving the disputes become costly and time-consuming. According to Mr Srivastava, the implementation of ODR will not only solve the issues easily but also creates job opportunities for a large number of software engineers and law practitioners.

2. The efforts of Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (IT &Operations), NHAI, of modernising the Highway sector by integration of IT in Highway Projects to escalate speed &quality of construction is acclaimed. The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) has bestowed the Vishwakarma Awardin “Public Officer” category to him. #SmartHighways #DigitalIndia #CreatorDigitalInventoryofRoadAssetsinIndia #AkhileshSrivastava