Increasing traffic flow has forced the highway authority of India to increase the number of lane of highways in order to provide good manoeuvring facilities to the users. To analyse the level of service of various types of highway facilities, the important parameter is Free-flow speed. It is the speed at which drivers feel comfortable to travel under the physical, environmental and traffic conditions existing on an uncongested section of multilane highway.
So for the Modi Government, highway construction has been a priority. In the fiscal year of the 2017-18 highway construction industry hits 20% growth over the previous fiscal year but yet not able to hit the scorching pace of the government’s target. In the recent years, the highway construction rate is approximately 6,234km/year. To calculate the actual growth of the highway construction industry, traditional linear length method is time-consuming.
So, experts of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) have proposed a new concept to estimate the actual length of the highways constructed in India. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, mentions that instead of using the traditional linear length method, the government is using the lane kilometer concept for measuring its highways.
Lane kilometer concept is the more realistic assessment of the total length of highway that has been constructed in the present fiscal year. It is an internationally adopted concept. Instead of counting the overall length of the highway it only measures the length of each new lane that is constructed. For example, if a four-lane highway is extended to 1km, the Lane Kilometre concept will count it as four km of highway extension, instead of giving the overall length of the highway.
Road Transport, Highways, Shipping, Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Gadkari, has declared that from the coming fiscal years the NHAI follows international norms to calculate construction of highways. Going by the international norm that is Lane kilometer concept, India has constructed approximately 9,829km in the year 2017-18.
The decision of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MORTH) & National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), to follow the Lane Kilometre concept is to reflect the reality of the highway construction scenario. It also shows measurements of the growth of expenditure on construction of highways in precise. The expenditure of two-lane highway and a four-lane highway is not same so, the new concept of measurement will specifically reflect the difference in costs and the effort requires for the various types of highway construction.
Private Highway developers and contractors are using this international norm of calculating the length of highways for years. And as of now, Government adapts the Lane kilometer concept; it becomes a standard for the measurement of the growth of highways in India.
Experts and Government officials believe that implementation of the Lane-kilometre concept helps in capturing the actual length of the highways constructed in India. The Lane kilometer method counts the length of each road instead of counting the overall length of the highway.
Referral link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/now-new-concept-to-measure-length-of-highways-from-april-1/story-Q44qGgFzl4DsAPv5OIG0YI.html
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