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Introduction

The vehicle population in India has grown from 0.3 million in 1951 to almost 40 million in 1997-98 - more than a hundred-fold increase. Correspondingly the traffic on Indian roads has also increased exponentially with the freight traffic increasing from 6 BTK (billion ton kilometre) to more than 375 BTK in the same period, and passenger traffic from 23 BPK (billion person kilometre) to 1500 BPK.

At the same time growth in the Road Network in India has not been able to maintain a similar pace (as is very evident from the table below). In the last 45 years the total length of roads in the country has increased by 7 times, while length of National and State Highways (which carry the majority of traffic) across the country has increased merely 1.7 and 2 times respectively.

Roads are classified into

• National Highways
• State Highways
• Major District Roads, and
• Other Roads (which include urban, village and Panchayat roads)

The National Highways, which account for more than 40 % of total road traffic, however form less than 2 % of the total Road Network in the country, while almost 95% is accounted by District Road and Other roads. A break-up of the road network in the country is given below:
 

Importance of Roads

The importance of adequate road-infrastructure for a developing country cannot be over-stressed. In 1951, railway transportation accounted for more than 75 %  of the passenger and freight traffic. Today however, road transportation accounts for more than 85% of the passenger traffic and 65% of the goods traffic.

Inefficient transportation means a loss of international competitiveness. While commercial vehicles in the country run, on an average 250-300 kms per day, their counterparts in the developed countries are able to cover more than double the distance. The economic losses to the national exchequer due to sub-standard and inadequate roads are estimated to be more than Rs. 20,000 crores per annum.

Road Projects - Coming Up

The Government of India has mooted several projects to improve road-infrastructure. Two major projects proposed, which could have a significant impact on road transportation are given below:

North-South & East-West Corridors

The ambitious plan envisages two 8-lane 7000-kms expressways connecting Jammu to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Somnath. The Planning Commission deputy chairman Mr. Jaswant Singh, who is also the chairman of the task force on infrastructure, has said that the Government has identified 30 points all over the country from where the construction is to commence.

The North-South Expressway goes from Jammu to Kanyakumari through Delhi, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Coimbatore, and the East-West Expressway runs from Silchar to Somnath through Calcutta.

The Golden Quadrilateral

The 5000-km Golden Quadrilateral project seeks to connect the four metros (Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, Chennai) via National Highways. 77 stretches / routes have been identified which will connect, apart from the four metros, the major ports and the major industrial centre en route.

Existing National Highways are to be upgraded from 2-lanes lanes to 4-lanes and even at certain places to 6-lanes, depending upon the density of the traffic.

However the modalities - for execution as well as funding - for the above projects are yet to be finalized. The total cost of both these projects is estimated to be more than Rs. 125,000 crores. The National Budget can contribute around Rs. 3000 crores, while cess from on petrol and diesel can yield approximately Rs. 4000 crores more.  Thus the Government will have to come with other options to make these projects a reality.