Traffic flow across toll barriers is regulated by way of clear demarcation of lanes approaching the toll plaza, provision of traffic marshals, provision of tag lanes for rapid clearance of vehicles, reduction of processing time by toll collectors etc.

Complaints of general nature are received from time to time in various offices of NHAI across the country. As and when complaints are received, prompt action is taken to investigate the same and take corrective action, if required.

As per National Highways (Fees for the use of National Highways Section and Permanent Bridge – Public Funded Project) Rules 1997 applicable for Public Funded Projects “ Toll collection shall be done only at one place within a distance of 80 Kms. from a point at the beginning of first National Highways Section or approach of entry of the first permanent bridge to be crossed under the jurisdiction of the same executing agency, regardless of number of projects falling within the length in order to facilitate free and unhindered movement of traffic. Where it is not feasible to do so, the number of collection point shall be kept minimum and shall be decided with the approval of Central Government.

As per National Highways ( collection of fees by any person for the use of section of National Highways / Permanent Bridge/ Temporary Bridge on National Highways) Rules 1997, applicable for BOT projects, there is no such condition regarding distance between two fee plazas .

As per National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules 2008 any other toll plaza on the same section of National Highway and in the same direction shall not be established within a distance of sixty Kms.

Provided that where the executing authority deems necessary, it may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, establish or allow the concessionaire to establish another toll plaza within a distance of sixty Kms.

Provided further that a toll plaza may be established within a distance of sixty Kms. from another toll plaza if such toll plaza is for collection of fee for a permanent bridge, bypass or tunnel”.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Jitin Prasada, in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Source: http://pib.nic.in

THE City of Cape Town is threatening legal action if the state goes ahead with plans to develop the R10bn winelands toll road project in the Western Cape.

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), which struggled this year to apply tolls to the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project amid a public outcry about the high costs, has not yet begun construction on the winelands route.

Cape Town mayoral committee member Brett Herron said yesterday he had written to Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele to inform him about the city’s declaration of a dispute under the Intergovernmental Relations Act.

The project encompasses 105km of the N1 highway between Cape Town and Worcester and a 70km stretch of the N2 between Bot River and Cape Town. In 2003 the project received environmental authorisation and it was gazetted as a toll road in 2008.

Mr Ndebele had not received the letter yet, Department of Transport spokesman Logan Maistry said yesterday. “But I am sure that once it has been received there will be further engagement and consultation on this matter, including by the newly announced government commission on infrastructure,” he said.

Mr Herron said the letter was sent two weeks ago.

The city wants to meet Sanral next week to select an independent arbitrator for its dispute. The city alleges that Sanral’s processes, including its environmental impact assessment and its published intent to toll, were “flawed”.

Sanral did not address the city’s concerns during the public participation process, Mr Herron said. These included the socioeconomic effects of tolling . Motorists avoiding the tolls would use alternative routes belonging to the city, which “will impact on maintenance required”. “Sanral refused to discuss the City’s concerns…. Our letter to the minister is our last attempt at resolving this dispute before legal action,” Mr Herron said.

Toll roads “are always an emotional issue,” Sanral manager Alex van Niekerk said. “The bottom line is if you cannot come up with the money through taxes then you are either going to have (tolls) or not have the project.”

Source: businessday.co.za

Workshop on Nationwide Electronic Toll Collection

• Mr. C P Joshi , Honrable Minister Road Transport and Highways
• Mr.  Nandan Nilkani , Chairman , UIDAI
• Mr. R S GUJRAL , Chairman NHAI
• Mr. Ravi Palekar , GM (Electronics) , NHAI – Addressing the gathering
• Mr. Sachin Bhatia, CEO, Metro Infrasys

Workshop on Nationwide Electronic Toll Collection held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. With an objective of paving way for a unified Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for National Highways in India, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways constituted a Committee under the chairmanship of Shri Nandan Nilekani Chairman of UIDAI with a mandate to examine all technologies available for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The other members of the Committee are Prof. Pankaj Jalote, Director, IIIT-Delhi ; Dr. Kolin Paul, Asst. Professor, IIT-Delhi ; Shri A.V. Sinha, DG (Road Development) & Special Secretary, MoRT&H and Shri. V.L. Patankar, Member (Technical), NHAI (Member Secretary).

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Dr. C.P. Joshi has said that we should chalk out a plan to increase the percentage of national highways from present 2.2 % to 5 % in the next 10 years. Delivering inaugural address at the Consultation Workshop with the Technology Providers and Concessionaires in respect of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) here today, he said that keeping in view the various types of highways there should be a hybrid pattern of toll collection. The Workshop was jointly organized by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, National Highways Authority of India & National Informatics Centre. The Chairman of UIDAI Shri Nandan Nilkeni & Minister of State for RT&H Shri Tusharbhai A. Chaudhary also addressed the workshop. Shri R.S. Gujral, Secretary Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and Dr. V.K. Gairola, D.G (NIC) were present.

Mr. Sachin Bhatia CEO Metro Infrasys expressing the support from Industry Fraternity

Based on the recommendations of the committee headed by Mr. Nandan Nilekani to use RFID technology for ETC, the Apex Committee, responsible for ETC implementation planning, is in the process of prescribing certain standards which should be complied with all over the country to ensure interoperability. The primary purpose of this workshop was to take feedback from the key stakeholders, comprising concessionaires and ETC technology service providers. Security, cost effectiveness, convenience and scalability have been the main criteria based on which the detailing has been done.

Based on the feedback, the specifications and data detailing will be finalized for open market release. The plan is that the authorized manufacturers will be producing Transceivers and Tags based on these standards, the concessionaires will be procuring these Transceivers and in turn, the technology service providers will be integrating the entire ETC system at the toll plaza. Although details on other aspects like clearing house are being worked out simultaneously, majority of the decisions will depend upon these standards only.

Followings are the Tolling Companies, RFID Manufacturer and concessionaire took part in the workshop:

• Kapsch Metro
• Egis Infra
• L&T Infra
• GMR
• HCC Infrastructure
• JICA
• IRDSA
• DSC
• EFKON India
• Siemens
• IAITO Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
• ESSEN, Mumbai
• ATT System, Banglore
• Mitsubishi
• IBI Group
• Neology
• Steria
• Tag Factory

Brief of discussion over finalization of technology between committee and Industry Peoples:

• Dr. B.K. Gairola, Director General, NIC  – extreme left
• Dr. Y.K. Sharma, DDG, NIC - middle position
• Dr. Rajat Moona, Director General of CDAC, IIT Kanpur
• Dr. Y.K. Sharma, DDG, NIC - extreme Right

Mr. Venkat from GMR expressed change from IP 66 to IP 65 for the readers as IP 65 is also good enough and IP 66 will increase the cost for the readers without any additional value.

Mr. Hari from Efkon
He raised an issue over the  relative humidity of 100% for Transceiver antenna.

Committee Conclusion :
Committee agreed for the IP 65 standard and 95% relative humidity as it comply against all possible environmental threat at toll scenario.

Mr. Anand Shenoy from IAITO Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Raised his voice over minimum requirement of reading of 10 Tags per second with 240 bits of EPC memory and 64 bits of Tag Id.

Committee Conclusion: committee agreed onto change it to 2 Tags per second with above said minimum requirement. On the other query raised by Mr. Shenoy that the data retention period must be 3-4 year for the tag memory instead of 10 years as their is no UV protection asked for the tag and without any special material with the effect of UV rays its hard to maintain the data in tag for 10 years, The committee replied as they will keep it under consideration and if required they will bring it in next phase.

On the query raised by Team from Metro Infrasys- Mr. Nitin Thakur and Mr. Harimohan for the option of having color coded  Tags for different class of vehicles, as it will help in operation at toll plazas. The Committee said that it is difficult to see the color in the moving car in the sun. However committee will discuss it in next phase.

Mr. Vipul  Sharma(Left), Mr. Mayank Manish(Right)
The long discussed topic was the polarization standard for the antenna, Panel has asked for circular polarization pattern for the antenna but Mr. Vipul Sharma and Mayank Manish from one of the leading manufacturer of RFID Equipment Neology reasoned to have it linearly polarized due to its long range and less interference phenomenon, also linearly polarized antennas can work at higher speed , committee keep this for discussion and will revert again.

Mr. Manoj Agarwal and Mr. Manish from Delhi Gurgaon Expressway strongly supported the idea of a law for putting a penalty on cash vehicles coming to Tag lane .

For the standard for the communication between plaza server and CCH server, there will be addition of Plaza id into the prescribed format by the committee. Plaza level fare plan and policy will be governed by the plaza itself while the global discount will be governed by the CCH server and will be updated in all the plaza server by CCH server itself. Committee also agreed to look into the various aspects of fare plans at different plazas.

Highlights of the Workshop:

ETC critical components:
Tag Distribution Channel & Inventory Management

• On-line channels by user
• Authorized service centers of vehicles (Service centre need to install the SPV client software and antenna connection), since centre must have authorized people to affix tags.
• RTO(Operation is similar to above)
• Vehicle dealer network(Operation is similar to above)
• Authorized point of sale installation(POS can be insurance companies, PUC centers, Petrol Pumps etc; Operation is similar to above)

Inventory Management of Tags:
SPV will keep track of allocated EPC Ids, Tag Ids etc. It will perform a demand forecast Tags and keep the tags available for distribution through distribution channel.

Handling Special Cases

• Valid ETC enabled vehicle was ejected due to non-read of Tag – Premium cash lane should verify it with the ETC database.
• Clone Tag – If customer complains/suspects that his/her Tag is cloned, Tag re-initiation is to be done for same Tag. Old Tag value is marked for special handling.
• Change in registration number of vehicle – Vehicle should approach distribution channel network and get a new tag. Old tag is to be destroyed physically and listed for special handling.
• De-registration of vehicle (due to destruction/ end of life/ Export etc.)-Tag is to be destroyed physically and listed for special handling.

Listing for Special Attention
Vehicle is listed for special attention following conditions:

• Insufficient balance as determined by clearing house
• Credit card co. declined the payment
• On Police look-out
• Suspected cloned Tag
• Tag with invalid Vehicle Registration no. (e.g. when Registration no. is changed)
• When toll plaza operator notices Tag carrying details different from vehicle itself (e.g. the vehicle Registration no. and/ or Vehicle class)

Videos

Conclusions drawn at the end of the seminar:

Documents Attached:

• Agenda Workshop
• Apex Committee for ETC Implementations – GOI, Draft Specifications Document
• ETC Report on RFID – July 2010

This story is covered by Mr. Sachin Bhatia.

Chief Editor, IndianTollways
CEO, Metro Infrasys
Email: sachin@metroinfrasys.com

Following protests, the authorities have decided to convene a meeting of ministers, MLAs and the representatives of various organisations on Sunday to discuss the issue. Activists of various political parties and organisations, under the aegis of the National Highway Protection Council, took out marches to the Toll Plaza at Kumbalam on Saturday morning. Some of them picketed the toll booth.

The agitators and the local people tore away the flex board put up by the NHAI displaying the toll rates.

The agitators prevented the motorists from paying the toll. As the protests grew, the officials closed the toll counters for the day.

Click here to read full story

‘Mahapass,’ the prepaid cards, will be similar to the mobile rechargeable cards, which will facilitate the vehicles to cross the toll booths without stopping while passing through dedicated lanes and simultaneously, the requisite toll being deducted.

With the tenders having already been floated, the PWD will soon launch a pilot project on the Pune-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad-Jalna state highway by May this year through private parties, Subhash Thorave, an official from PWD, told Sakàl Times. After the success of the pilot project, the facility will be expanded on other highways.

There are seven toll booths between Pune and Jalna, and each booth has different toll charges. Whatever be the amount fixed at these booths, it would be deducted from the Mahapass cards, Thorave said. The general experience is vehicle owners get irritated at these toll booths because of clearance time of anywhere between two to 15 minutes, depending on the rush.

Onwards vehicles will not need to pay the cash on toll booths as Public Works Department (PWD) is planning to introduce the prepaid cards for paying the toll on these booths. These card holders will get dedicated lane on toll booth to pass directly and will not need to stop on toll booths. The required amount will be automatically deducted from the card once the vehicle will pass through the toll booth.

This prepaid card will be known as Mahapass and it is same like mobile recharge card. Citizens can recharge it anywhere. PWD is implementing the pilot project on Pune-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad-Jalna stretch.

MAHAPASS SCHEME
‘Mahapass,’ the prepaid cards, will be similar to the mobile rechargeable cards, which will facilitate the vehicles to cross the toll booths without stopping while passing through dedicated lanes.

The Project comprises of 2 Toll Plazas with 12 lanes each and 4 sets of Weight in Motion systems. Mr. Srinivas Rao, Executive Director of Madhucon Projects limited congratulated Mr. Sachin Bhatia CEO of Metro Infrasys P Ltd for achieving the NHAI ‘s IC approval prior to the COD date so that the Commerical Operations could be started without any punchlist as regards the Tolling Solutions.

Based on the sucessful relationship, Metro has been awarded another project for Madhucon’s Assm project for Toll Plaza Electrification, a new division division started in Metro.

http://www.kapsch.net/en/ktc/Pages/what-is-ITS.aspx

Driving forces of road construction

Source: Infrastructure in China: Foundation for Growth, KPMG, 2009

Outlined in a series of five-year plans, the development of infrastructure in the Chinese economy has remained an integral part of its economic development initiatives, But expressway construction in China only gained momentum in 1989, when the forces of economic liberalization were gathering steam. As a result of these comprehensive economic reforms, the Chinese economy surged to an average annual growth rate of 9% in the three decades spanning 1978-2008, a remarkable achievement. Driven by industrial production and exports, this higher economic growth was naturally accompanied by a greater demand for freight transport, which in turn created a demand for construction of new roads. Higher living standards along with improved levels of domestic consumption further added to this transport demand. What’s more, China’s zooming car sales and its emergence as the largest car market globally in 2009, also necessitated the quick construction of highways and expressways. Notably, the building of highways is a crucial factor in the country’s “Go West” policy aimed for the integrated development of central and western China, which lags behind the more economically prosperous east, as well as some parts of the north¹ .

National Trunk Highway System: Backbone of China’s road network

China’s ambitious National Trunk Highway System (NTHS), launched in 1990 originally envisaged 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles) of expressways that would link all the major cities with each other as well as the ports. While this core of the Chinese transport system, covering a population of almost one billion, was due to be completed in 2020, it was functional by 2007, 13 years ahead of schedule. The NTHS, also known as the 7918 network, links all provincial capitals as well as cities with a population of more than 200,000, and incorporates the following:

• 7 Highways from Beijing
• 9 North to South vertical expressways
• 18 East to West horizontal expressways

Building expressways at a breakneck speed, China today boasts of 65,000 kilometers (40,389 miles) of expressway network, the second largest in the world, compared to a mere 147 kilometers (91.34 miles) in 1989 . The country is poised to expand this network further to 85,000 kilometers (52,817 miles) by 2020, according to the Ministry of Transport. For greater integration of rural areas in the economic development process, the government also plans to build and modernize about 270,000 kilometers (167,770 miles) of rural roads.

Regulatory framework for roads: Government at the helm

The fast-paced expansion of the road network in China, especially expressways, over the past 15 years has been possible due to the government’s systematic tiered approach. The development has been led by the State Council as a central entity for overall planning and standards, while the Provincial Transport Departments are responsible for detailed planning, design as well as building. Successive five-year plans have also outlined specific provincial targets for road construction, which have facilitated large-scale implementation simultaneously of many parallel projects.

The governance or regulatory framework for roads in China is as follows² :

State Council: This is the highest executive organ of state administration, with the premier at the helm, along with ministers and state councilors. The State Council has the responsibility of approving and issuing plans and policies for road sector development.

Ministry of Transportation: The Ministry of Transportation (MOT) assumes the role of policy oversight as well as regulation of all transport modes, except railways.

Provincial Transport Departments & Transport Bureaus: The 27 Provincial Transport Departments and the transport bureaus for the four mega cities- Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai and Tianjin- are responsible for the implementation of the transport programs and policies. They are also accountable for raising funds for the road projects, and for their operation as well as maintenance.

Financing of road projects

On the funding front, the provinces finance about 65%-90% of the capital cost needed to construct and maintain the expressways through their own budgets and debt. MOT sets policies, standards and provides investment support for construction. While expanding the inter-provincial National Trunk Highway System, the government decided to adopt a toll-based network, which would be predominantly financed by debt³ .

While the financing and management of the expressway network predominantly remains in the public sector domain, the government has adopted a distinctive form of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) financing for some expressway projects. For example, after completing the construction of a toll expressway, provincial governments set up an expressway corporation as a public limited company, listed on the stock exchange. The provincial government then invests the money paid by the shareholders into construction of new toll roads. As such, China followed a one road-one company model, which allows for joint venture, securitized ownership, direct private sector investment, as well as different forms of leasing and concessions. Overall, private investments constitute a mere 7% of expressway financing in China. Here, the build-operate-transfer (BOT) method of road construction and management, which is a popular form of PPP financing, has been recently introduced in China. It is a tendered process, in which the chosen concessionaire (private entity) finances, builds and operates a road for a specified period.

Source: ‘A Review of Institutional Arrangements for Road Asset Management: Lessons for the Developing World’, Cesar Queiroz and Henry Kerali, The World Bank, 2010.

China and India: Contrasting approach to road projects

In terms of the total road network, China ranks second, while India ranks third globally. A common characteristic of the road network in both countries is the predominance of rural roads, which constitute almost 90% of the total road length in China and 79% in India. While India boasts of a highway network of 66,590 kilometers (41,377 miles), its minuscule expressway network of 200 kilometers (124.3 miles) is dwarfed by China’s 65,000 kilometers (40,389 miles) expressway network⁴ .

While traditionally road construction in India was entirely undertaken and financed by the government, budgetary constraints have resulted in alternative models for road projects. With the objective of attracting private investment in road development, maintenance and operation, the National Highways Act (NH Act) of 1956 was amended in June 1995. These amendments facilitated private entities to invest in the NH projects, as well as levy, collect and retain fee from users, and regulate traffic on these highways as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988.

The National Highways Development Program (NHDP) forms the backbone of India’s road network with a length of 66,590 kilometers (41,377 miles). While this constitutes only 2% of India’s total road network it, it carries about 40% of the total road traffic. Launched in 2001, the NHDP is spread over seven phases to be completed by 2015. This ambitious program consists of connecting the four metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata (the Golden Quadrilateral), while substantially upgrading its existing network too.

Read full article here:
http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/BRIC-spotlight/2010/china-toll-roads-expressways.aspx

Going further, today the developers/ concessionaires /infrastructure companies have different challenge. Most of the reputed companies have multiple HIGH VALUE investment BOT projects, which are at different locations and stretches. Any unwanted incident can result into huge revenue loss even with best tolling and ITS systems. Monitoring multiple projects become difficult unless and until one haves Central Data Center (CDC) hooking all the projects to monitor and analyse individual operation report to justify actions like mobilize manpower, financial investment , subcontract etc. In true sense the CDC acts as DSS (Decision Support System). This is the time the concessionaire / Developers/ O&M companies need to look into reputed IT companies and make worthy investment for the CDC. But the point is which IT companies? One who are well established with quality standards to ensure stability, scalability of the IT system and must understand Tolling, ITS and Road infrastructure segment to interact and scope the CDC requirements. To name few NIIT Technologies Ltd, HCL, Wipro, TCS, CMC are the ones to look into.

New Business Emergence in Tolling – The State Border Check post in India

Across the state border entry points, various checks are performed on commercial vehicles carrying goods for Overloading, Permits, Vehicle fitness, PUC etc. and have to collect taxes like Entry Tax, Motor Vehicle Tax, Penalties etc. Presently these activities are manual and human dependent raising possibilities of manipulation and errors in classifying vehicle(s) and payment collection. Secondly physical check leads to substantial time spend. This results in huge queue in border check post. To facilitate, ease and to speed up the process, toll systems are brought in to classify vehicles, check overloading, capture and record vehicle registration no. plate and account tax collection / penalties. As “Border Check Post Automation” is an emerging business, will take a while for the tolling and auditing system to evolve and standardize. IT Systems has to play a very vital role and all the border check post integration has to happen centrally from a single location to monitor, analyse and to make decisions. The good part to this emergence is thinking happening in Government and hopefully will result into collection of accountable revenues across all the state border entries and investment for the progress of the country.

Debashish Debsikdar
Practice Head – Surface Transportation & Airport
NIIT Technologies Ltd.

When Delhi Gurgaon Expressway was conceived by NHAI, the main objective was to provide high-speed connectivity between Delhi and the commercial hub, Gurgaon. However, today instead of providing speed connectivity it has become a subject of argument between, NHAI, Concessionaire and planning authorities of Haryana and New Delhi.

January 2008 marked the completion of the much-awaited Delhi Gurgaon Expressway but due to lack of proper planning, poor traffic forecasting, unplanned traffic management, poor urban design and lack of traffic enforcement it became a nightmare for the users. Further the increased traffic added to the mess in management of the highway and concessioner faced a huge challenge in starting the operations.

It is very sad to see this highway in such a sorry state of affairs where the issues are not addressed by the stakeholders but just being passed on to each other. Today, contrary to high expectations, this highway is just another ordinary road and is not able to give a nice driving experience to the road users and leave a good impression on the users.

The aesthetic perception for highway user is very bad indeed which conjures up images of choked Hero Honda road with overflowing drain water, poor service roads, narrow entries and exists, poor landscaping and toll plaza lanes welcoming commuters with choked lanes and driver criss crossing the lanes. This highway in the National Capital Region of India is far from creating an impression on any visitor from abroad who touches it when he enters the city and suburbs. It is a far away from the natural landscape and aesthetic quality which we can see internationally in all highways. Concessionaire was given the design with which he has to construct and operate now.

Expert highway planners and traffic engineers were not able to envisage for amenities required for the highway. The high cost of right-of-way acquisition generally prohibited the creation of buffer zones between highway and neighbourhood. Bridges, overpasses, skyways, fencing, sound barriers and interchanges that are a basic necessity on this stretch were not envisaged and now after development these are being accommodated in an unplanned manner. These unplanned and graceless structures are not well designed and lacks the aesthetic appearance.

The biggest challenge on this highway in the coming years would be circulation of traffic. Traffic planning and enforcement has not been addressed adequately leaving concessionaire of the highway helpless. For more than 50 villages on both sides of the road, this is another massive freeway which is used without payment of any toll, without any policy and without any documented right since they were overlooked at the planning stage. Today the challenge for the office going people is not just to drive on this but taking the entries and exits on this as well. All entries and exists are narrow and curvy lacking center lines and ample shoulders. At peak hours it takes more than 40 minutes which is almost double the time for crossing the highway. Prime commercial areas and prime residential localities of Gurgaon close to these exits and entries are facing the
heat of this oversight.

Since it began operation, safety has been a big issue and it has also achieved the notoriety of being called “The Killer Highway”. There are only limited over-bridges along the entire stretch to cater to the communities living on either side of the heavily populated areas through which the expressway runs. Right from fencing to over-bridges, everything is being implemented on a need basis now. Few issues are still un-addressed like movement of two-wheelers which is almost equal to the existing traffic on the expressway and effort has not been made even to count them so that some planning can be done for accommodating them on this highway. Half completed service roads and poor signages have also added risk to the users on the highway.

This development is not without its drawbacks – traffic congestion is a serious issue, especially at the toll plaza. During peak hours, it can easily take up to 15 minutes to cross the toll plaza which would have taken a minute to cross if managed properly. The highway operations staff needs lot of training in highway management and operations. The benefits that construction of this expressway offered in terms of employment and connectivity is outweighed by traffic congestion. The toll plaza at the Delhi-Gurgaon border has also proved inadequate in handling the increasing traffic, leading to traffic jams during peak hours. Though the plaza is tag enabled, only 35-40 percent of the traffic that passes through avails of this facility and that too with lot of mess.

From dense fog in winters to scorching heat waves in summers, from over loaded truck on the main highway to two wheelers zipping from all directions, from the encroached service roads in Haryana to un- authorized parking on service roads, from high speed to bad traffic etiquettes on Expressway, from Cash Users in Tag Lanes to Blacklisted Tag users, from lack of Basic Amenities to power failures in highway lighting, from lack
of VMS signages to stray animals on Highway, there are lot of issues that need to be addressed in Highway Management.

Highways are not only meant for driving. Internationally highways are meant to give a pleasant experience to the users where they feel safe to drive and reach their family and home in time. Aesthetics of expressway in terms of median, edges, lighting and road furniture is developed in such a fashion that it adds to the driving experience. The idea is to choose pleasing aesthetic solution which appeals to the users without compromising the safety issues of the highways.

To conclude, the Delhi Gurgaon Expressway has not only made developed localities of Gurgaon more accessible, it has also facilitated development of new localities. Master Plan 2021 has opened many sectors for development which benefitted with better connectivity after completion of this expressway. However, the quality of services on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway might get worse if not addressed on time. Gurgaon is already booming and it needs improved connectivity and a sharp reduction in travel time, both within the city as well as to and from the national capital. All stake holders and people involved in this project need to sit together and seriously deliberate to address all outstanding issues. A time bound plan for addressing these issues can be done only by a truly innovative way of thinking about the freeway in the urban environment.

All said and done, much work still remains to be done……

Sachin Sharma
Executive President -Infrastructure
Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd
www.bajajhindusthan.com