The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has introduced a uniform design and safety framework for high-speed access-controlled national highways, setting detailed standards for lane configuration, corridor width, interchanges, access points and safety measures as India prepares for a major expansion of its high-speed road network.
The guidelines will apply to all upcoming four- and six-lane greenfield and brownfield high-speed access-controlled national highways, other than expressways, and are aimed at ending variations in the technical standards used for preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPRs).
Until now, there were no separate standards specifically governing the planning and design of access-controlled high-speed national highways, other than expressways. As a result, variations were observed in the standards adopted for different projects during DPR preparation.
Under the new framework, lane configuration will be determined by traffic volume, with corresponding standards prescribed for the width of the highway corridor and structures.
Corridors with traffic flow of up to 15,000 vehicles will have a four-lane highway with four-lane structures and a corridor width of 60 metres. Corridors carrying between 15,000 and 25,000 vehicles will have a four-lane highway with six-lane structures and a width of 70 metres. For traffic volumes between 25,000 and 40,000 vehicles, the highway and structures will have a width of 70 metres for six-lane highway & six-lane structures.
The guidelines place particular emphasis on safety because of the high speeds expected on these corridors. Advance notification of exits and entries will be provided so that motorists have sufficient warning of upcoming access and egress points.
The guidelines come as the government prepares to substantially expand India’s access-controlled highway network. It has set a target of operationalising 18,000 km of national high-speed corridors and expressways by 2028-29, while planning to award projects covering 26,000 km by 2032-33.
The longer-term roadmap envisages 50,000 km of access-controlled high-speed corridors by 2047.
As of July, 10,389 km of national high-speed corridor projects had been awarded, of which 4,809 km had been completed and 5,580 km was under implementation. The operational length of access-controlled national high-speed corridors and expressways has increased to about 3,052 km, compared with 93 km in 2014.
Source: The Financial Express
