NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will collaborate with 200 premier institutes and engineering colleges across the country who will adopt highway stretches.
According to the NHAI, 18 IITs including IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Varanasi, IIT-Guwahati, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Kharagpur, 26 NITs and 190 other reputed engineering colleges have agreed to collaborate with it.
According to the NHAI, the adopted stretches can be used as a field of study for faculty, researchers and also to familiarise students with the latest trends in industry and suggest the relevant performance parameters and innovations.
“The partner institutes will study improvement prospects in road safety, maintenance, riding comfort, removal of choke points, black spots and usage of new technologies on the adopted stretches and give suitable suggestions,” a statement by the authority read.
The NHAI will also offer paid internships to 20 undergraduate and 20 post-graduate students as a part of the initiative.
Some of the areas of collaboration include improvements in safety provisions by removing existing deficiencies and offering potential solutions to old recurring problems based on local experience, improvements in maintenance and riding comfort through cost-effective measures based on innovative technologies, localised solutions for removal of congestion points and viability of new wayside amenities.