National highways to have 4 or 6 lane; traffic density to decide laning

The Centre is preparing a mega plan to upgrade national highways from two lane to four or six lane, depending on their traffic density.

To ensure smooth vehicular movement on the highways and address traffic snarls, the government wants to upgrade these roads, said an official in the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

All roads with a traffic density of 10,000 vehicles a day will be upgraded to four lane, while those with 20,000 or more vehicles will be upgraded to six lane, said the official.

The Ministry received the list of highways which require urgent upgradation from the states and work will begin soon in phases, said the official.

The Ministry has also decided to prepare highway capacity assessment report before starting the up-gradation work. The report will provide vehicular growth projection for the entire country, density of vehicles on certain sections of roads over a period and scientific method to address the traffic issues on highways, said the official.

The panel, comprising officials from CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), CRRI (Central Road Research Institute), policy makers, engineers and traffic management experts, will prepare the report.

The expert committee also suggested using plastic waste for road laying, said the official.

According to National Highway Authority of India, the country has 1.15 lakh km length of national highways.