BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to reduce accidents in Odisha, the Commerce and Transport department has planned to make the highways in the State 100 per cent road signage compliant. Stating that road mishap fatalities can be prevented to a great extent by improving the road infrastructure, sources in the Transport department said a road signage audit will soon be launched in the State and markings would be put up on State/National Highways along 3,000 km in the first phase.
Faulty road signage and signals are often responsible for massive traffic jams and accidents. Many times road signs are wrongly placed, hidden, bungled, missing or are not accurate. The department is making efforts to identify faulty road signage/markings and rectify them. As part of the initiative, a sample audit of road signage and markings was recently conducted with the help of experts on State Highway - 10 (Biju Expressway) along a 50 km stretch between Deokaranpur and Keseibahal in Sundargarh district.
The audit revealed that there was a need to put up more road signs to warn, inform, guide, control or delineate the commuters. At some places, the pavement markings were not conspicuous and continuous, observed the experts.
As per the findings and recommendations of the sample audit, rectifications are being carried out on State Highway-10. Based on the findings of the sample audit, the Transport department has decided to scale up the initiative at the State-level. Sources said the department is identifying the districts where the audit will be carried out and subsequently signage and markings will be rectified/replaced on roads. The audit is expected to commence within a month.
“This initiative will be of immense help to the drivers, especially during night as reflective tapes will be used on signage and markings will have advanced paints,” said Joint Commissioner (road safety) of Transport department, Sanjay Biswal.