NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come up with comprehensive guidelines for the planning and design of high-speed corridors other than expressways to ensure uniformity and consistency. The different standards and specifications are being adopted for preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) for access-controlled national highways.
The aim is to develop a network of the world-class national highways (NHs). The lane configuration will be standardised based on detailed traffic assessment.
Corridors with traffic flow up to 15,000 vehicles, with four-lane highways and four-lane structures, will have a width of 60 metres.
A four-lane highway and four-lane structures corridor refers to a roadway designed with four active lanes for traffic, while permanent structures like bridges, flyovers, and underpasses are built wide enough to accommodate six lanes right from the start.
Similarly, the highways with traffic flow between 15,000-25,000 vehicles, with four-lane highways and six-lane structures, will have a width of 70 metres.
Also, Highways with traffic flow between 25,000-40,000 vehicles will have a width of 70 metres for a six-lane highway and six-lane structures configuration.
A key focus of the guidelines is on the incorporation of additional safety measures appropriate for high-speed traffic conditions on corridors.
Special provisions have also been prescribed for advance notification of exits and entries, enabling highway users to anticipate and safely navigate upcoming access and egress points.
Interchanges with ramps will be provided at crossings with Expressways, National Highways, State Highways and important arterial roads generating substantial traffic, as well as roads providing connectivity to major traffic-generating destinations such as ports, airports, Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs), industrial areas and major tourist destinations.
“To strengthen access control and prevent encroachments, unauthorised access and entry of stray cattle onto high-speed corridors, the guidelines prescribe construction of a one-metre-high boundary wall along the outer edge of the corridor," officials said.
"…The guidelines will apply to all upcoming four- or six-lane Greenfield and Brownfield high-speed access-controlled highways. The guidelines seek to bring uniformity in standards for DPRs of high-speed NH corridors and bring greater consistency in technical standards, strengthen road safety, and improve operational efficiency across the network,” said officials.
The guidelines are aligned with the long-term Government of India’s strategic roadmap, which envisages the development of 50,000 km of access-controlled High-Speed Corridors under Viksit Bharat 2047, boosting connectivity and reducing logistics costs.
As per the guidelines, access should be planned with the objective that long-distance through traffic can operate at a speed dictated by the flow on the main highway and not by any other factors, such as interference from local traffic, access traffic or cross traffic.