India: Highways and Road Project News II [Archive]

March 10th, 2007, 04:32 AM

Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway is gonna take more time to finally take shape. The following was written by the Minister of Roads/transport/highway to the Rajya Sabha today..

_______________

The section of Vadodara-Mumbai (400 km) has already been identified for development as Expressway. For the Vadodara-Mumbai section, action for appointing a consultant for Feasibility Studies was initiated. However, no proper response has been received so far from reputed consultancy firms.

The following are the phases of planning and development:-

Phases of Planning/ development Approximate time

Alignment and feasibility 1 year

Land Acquisition (LA) 2 years

Invitation of bids and award of Build, 6 months
Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession

Financial close 6 months

Construction 3 and 1/2 years

Government of Gujarat has frozen development along a corridor which could form part of Expressway alignment. Land Acquisition (LA) is expected to start after 1 year of starting of Feasibility Study. Construction can be taken up only after Land Acquisition (LA) is completed.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri K.H. Muniyappa in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Source (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=25615)
__________________________________
Another 7-8 years to go when vehicles can finally ply on this road. :ohno: Talk about the slow development of our already underdeveloped infrastructure.

Suncity

March 10th, 2007, 04:51 AM

^^

But isn't it already four laned?

So is this a new expressway they will build or just upgrade the current highway?

March 10th, 2007, 04:54 AM

Its basically a continuation of the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway which runs parallel to NH8.

March 10th, 2007, 05:16 AM

Anyways, A North-South 102Kms 6 laned expressway is scheduled to start construction in Goa this year or next year :)

Here's more on it --

Goa eyes PPP model for infrastructure

Besides projects like setting up Goa broadband network, a convention centre, the north-south expressway and others, the chief minister spoke about constructing bus terminuses in Panaji, Margao and Mapusa on the same model.

Work on projects like construction of an oceanarium, the north-south six-lane expressway and a hydel-power generation unit is expected to begin during 2007-08.

The chief minister maintained that the north-south expressway would be running from Patradevi in the north Goa district to Margao in south Goa.

Source
(http://www.business-standard.com/general/storypage_test.php?&autono=277118)
___________________________
One can find many articles on this project by simply typing 'north south goa expressway' in google.
Here's the location of Patradevi AKA pernem and Canacona and NH17 running. This is NOT the allignment of the proposed expressway

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/6791/goaexht1.jpg

______________________

Here's more --

The proposed six-lane expressway connecting both district of the state will be built 200 mts away from the Konkan railway track, running parallel to it, on the eastern side. The expressway would begin from the Amerem village situated along the boundary of the Pernem taluka and move through Khaznem, Amai, Nagzar, Dhargal, Tivim, Shirgaon, Mayem, Old Goa, Carambolim, Neura up to Cortalim. It would further pass through Verna, Cansaulim, Margao, Navelim, Cuncolim, Balli and Barcem right to the Canacona taluka, where it will pass through Mashem and Loliem and connect with the existing national highway. The length of the expressway will be 105 km. Three new bridges, one each at Colvale, Old Goa and Cortalim, will form part of the expressway. The minimum speed with which the vehicles will be allowed to travel on the expressway will be 80 km per hour and it will not be open for two-wheeler vehicles. (NT)

Source (http://www.goacom.com/joel/news/2006apr/30apr06.htm)

____________________

One article claims it to be running between Pernem to Margao which is approx 62kms while another one claims it to be running b/w Pernem and Canacona which is around 95kms. Since both state that the expressway would be 102-105 kms,I think the route would be Pernem-Margao-Canacona which fits the bill for approx 100kms.

Naga_Solidus

March 10th, 2007, 07:31 AM

This is great news, and the 80km/h minimum speed is great too. Similarly, a upper speed limit shouldn't be imposed due to said minimum speed limit and the possibility of widely spaced exits. However, completely prohibiting motorbikes is a bad idea due to the presence of motorbikes capable of expressway speeds. A 250cc minimum requirement for motorbikes is probably a better idea, as is prohibiting them from carrying passengers.

VJB

March 11th, 2007, 01:13 AM

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/599/120qq1.gif
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3861/compulsorycyclerickshawqs9.gif
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7360/gapinmediantl9.gif
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7691/roadmarkingswhitelineds1.gif
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3493/roadmarkingsyellowlinegw8.gif
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/64/slowcarriagewayaheadiq3.gif
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8666/traffic5dj6.gif

March 11th, 2007, 06:42 AM

@Vjb - Can you repost with large images in the Cityscapes forum under the 'townscapes across India' thread? As those images are from the city and not from a highway :)

___________________
UP govt orders land acquisition for Taj Expressway (http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/25329.html)

GREATER NOIDA, MARCH 10:More than four months after an inquiry committee gave the go-ahead for the 165-km Taj Expressway from Noida to Agra, the Uttar Pradesh Government has issued orders for the acquisition of over 2500 acres of land required for the construction of the six-lane expressway. Once complete, it will bring down travelling time to 100 minutes from point to point.

According to the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), the expressway will cut through agricultural land in 190 villages of Gautambudh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts. Officials, however, said spiralling property prices in these areas with private developers moving in would make the acquisition process difficult. The Sunday Express visited Mursadpur village in Greater Noida that stands first in line of the expressway and villagers were already anticipating high prices. The district administration had been entrusted with the job of acquisition while Jaiprakash Associates, which will construct the expressway, will recover costs through toll tax.

“Three years ago, when work on the expressway first began, the government promised Rs 3.2 lakh per bigha. Now, private developers have bought land at almost Rs 20 lakh per bigha in our village,” said 85-year-old Jaggu Singh Pradhan, who owns 12.5 bighas of farm land in Mursadpur. “We have been hearing that our land will be acquired for four years now. We want a good price,” he added. :)

The Taj Expressway, that will branch off from the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, is being constructed largely through virgin area along the Yamuna, comprising mostly rural areas. That the Expressway will take off much pressure from the congested NH-2 which runs through cities like Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and Palwal, translating to a five-hour ride to Agra. The Expressway will instead touch en-route the proposed Gautam Buddha University, the Taj SEZ and International Hub airport. Separate roads leading to Mathura and Vrindavan will branch off from it. There will be service lanes on both side besides ribbon development across a 2,500-hectare area at five to seven locations with commercial, amusement, industrial, institutional and residential elements.

Sources said Jaiprakash Associates had written to the UP Government a couple of months back asking for speedy acquisition of land so that construction could begin to achieve the 2010 target. Noida Additional DM (Land Acquisition) Ajaydeep Singh told The Sunday Express that the acquisition process would be smooth. “The UP Government has ordered the acquisition process but we are waiting for the Greater Noida Authority to give its final proposal. We will determine land prices by analysing the sale deeds and ensure that the villagers get a good price,” said Singh. Acquiring land in other districts of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra would be the responsibility of the respective district administration.

____________________________________________________

Taj Expressway: troubled history

• Rs 2,250-crore agreement for the Taj Expressway signed during Mayawati’s tenure with Jayprakash Associates on February 7, 2003.

• Within a month of coming to power in 2003, Mulayam halts construction, orders an inquiry by Justice Ranganath Mishra on the grounds that Mayawati had hurried through the project and committed irregularities. Allahabad HC disbanded the inquiry.

• Another committee, comprising former Chief Vigilance Commissioner V S Mathur and district judge L S P Singh, constituted. This too disbanded on court orders.

• A third committee, of Justice S. Narayan, appointed by Mulayam Singh Yadav last May not only gave Mayawati a clean chit but also strongly recommended that the project be implemented right away as it is of “immense public interest”. On October 12, 2006, Mulayam granted the contract again to Jai Prakash Associates.

March 11th, 2007, 07:19 PM

Work on Expressway to international airport to start shortly in Bangalore (http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/10/stories/2007031024070500.htm)

____________________________________________________
Tendering process to be completed in the next two months

# Road will facilitate high-speed traffic between city and airport
# State has notified 638.10 acres to be acquired for road
_____________________________________________________

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4695/2007031024070501ah5.jpg

BANGALORE: Work on the much-awaited six-lane road to the international airport at Devanahalli will commence shortly. On March 3, the Government notified 638.10 acres in 18 villages to be acquired for constructing the 21-km expressway that will facilitate high-speed traffic between the city and the airport.

The expressway connecting Bangalore to the international airport at Devanahalli from the Outer Ring Road, near Horamavu, will pass through Bangalore North, Bangalore East and Devanahalli taluks in Bangalore Urban district.

Sources in the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) told The Hindu that the tendering process would be completed within the next two months, and the Rs. 400-crore project would be completed within 15 months of awarding the contract.

Tentatively, the expressway to the international airport from the Outer Ring Road would be completed by September 2008.

The international airport is likely to become operational in April 2008.

The notification follows the completion of survey, Techno-Economic Feasibility Report and fixing the alignment of the road.

Passenger traffic

The process of identifying the developer would be completed shortly.

The City Infrastructure Review Committee had decided to launch the project anticipating passenger traffic between 10 and 12 million when the international airport would become fully functional. BMRDA is the nodal agency for the project while the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. will identify the developer.

Project details

The whole project would comprise two interchanges at the start of project road near the ORR and the end of the project road near the proposed international airport approach road (21 km), one flyover of four lane bi-directional divided carriageway and around 30 vehicular-cum-pedestrian underpasses. These underpasses at all existing major and minor crossroads is to ensure connectivity and facilitate crossing of traffic and pedestrians at frequent intervals.

Besides, full cloverleaf type interchange has been proposed at the proposed peripheral road intersection along with two modern fully automatic toll plazas, high traffic management system, two fuelling stations, two truck bays and others.

Phase-1
In Phase-1, the expressway comprises four lane bi-directional divided elevated road from 0 km to two km, and further up to the airport it will be a grade six lane divided carriageway.

Phase-2
In Phase-2, additional four-lane bi-directional divided elevated road would be constructed between 0 km and two km and further, the existing six-lane bi-directional divided carriageway will be widened to eight-lane divided carriageway.

March 12th, 2007, 03:08 AM

Six Laning of Delhi-Meerut highway approved (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=25522)

Six lanning of Delhi-Meerut section of National Highway (NH) has been approved. Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) is in progress at present.

Six lanning of Meerut-Haridwar-Dehradun section of NH is not envisaged at this stage. Presently, four lanning of Meerut-Muzaffarnagar section of NH has been awarded and four laning is proposed to be continued in Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar-Dehradun section of NH under National Highway Development Project (NHDP) Phase-III.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri K.H. Muniyappa in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

_______________

NH24 from Delhi-Ghaziabad is already 6 laned,so basically this would mean that the Ghaziabad-Meerut NH58 section would be converted to 6 lanes.

Ghaziabad-Meerut is about 50 odd kms.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/2995/mapanh58rx4.jpg

kronik

March 12th, 2007, 05:46 AM

The real bottleneck is Meerut to Dehradun. Its a nightmare to drive on that highway, with narrow, potholed road with a village almost every kilometer and villagers spilling on the highway with their cattle and tractors and everything else.

Just bad driving memories travelling on that road. :ohno:

PlaneMad

March 12th, 2007, 02:22 PM

just back from a trip to coimbatore, theres progress in quite a few stretches fom kovai-krishnagiri (nh47-7) but the existing rad is extremely bad. But the gq section from there to chennai is just awesome. it felt like the bus was standing still for like 20 min,

kronik

March 17th, 2007, 08:43 AM

North east road projects in full swing (http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=158053)

A meeting between the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee and the Manipur government will be held soon to sort out issues hindering land acquisition in the region that are delaying road projects in the north-east.

Minister for shipping, road transport and highways, TR Baalu is also expected to visit the region soon to take stock of the progress made in road projects under the special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) for the region and ensure expeditious completion of the projects. Addressing the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Friday the minister said that the border roads organisation (BRO) and the Assam PWD have started implementation of 452 kms of roads under the Phase-A of the programme, covering 1,310 kms of roads at an investment of Rs 4,618 crore. Under Phase-B of the programme, 6,306 kms of roads have been approved for preparation of detailed project reports (DPR).

Baalu said that in order to connect the region with the rest of the country by a high-speed national highway, 678 kms of 4-lane east-west corridor from Silchar to Shrirampur in Assam is under construction by the NHAI at an estimated investment of Rs 6,000 crore. He informed that contracts for a 629 km-long road, at a project cost of Rs 5,218 crore, have been awarded and tendering for another 31-km is in progress, while 18 km-long Guwahati bypass has already been completed.

The minister said that although the SARDP-NE is scheduled to be completed by December 2008, there is likely to be some delay due to reasons like law and order situation, under-developed local contracting industry, lack of proper equipment and land acquisition problems. “Construction of the East-West Corridor in Assam and Phase ‘A’ of SARDP-NE together account for an investment of about Rs 11,000 crore and you would agree that road construction programme of such a high magnitude has never been undertaken in north-east before”, he said.

Also some stretches of roads are passing through wild life sanctuaries and National Parks and the alignment of the East-West Corridor between Udarbund and Harangajao had to be changed due to subsequent notification of a portion of the selected alignment as wild life sanctuary, he pointed out.

kronik

March 19th, 2007, 06:49 AM

Road projects fail to reach destination (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=278041&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

While the budgetary allocation for the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) has gone up by 35 per cent, most of the projects are far behind schedule and deadlines have gone awry.

Under the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) programme, 5,846 km of highways is to be completed by June, after two extensions in the deadline (the original one being December 2005). Till November 2006, 93 per cent of the work had been completed.

Targets for the north-south-east-west (NSEW) corridor have also not been met.

Under this corridor, a total of 7,300 km of highways are to be four laned. Even after the ministry for roads and highways shifted the deadline by a year to December 2008, till November 30, 2006 only 853 km of highways (which is 11 per cent of the target) have been four laned. In the case of phase III A of NHDP, where 4,000 km of roads are to be four laned, the government has not set a deadline. But till November 30, 2006, only 30 km of highways had been completed.

Under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East, the finance minister has increased the allocation from Rs 9,945 crore, given in the current fiscal, to Rs 10,667 crore in the coming fiscal.

Work on this project was to start in 2005-06, however it will only begin in 2007-08. The ministry would be starting work on 450 km of roads in the region. A total of 3,228 km of roads are to be upgraded in this scheme.

In the port connectivity project, only 34 per cent of the targeted work has been done.

I wonder if there is a connection between the UPA coming into power and the slowdown in the NHDP?

Hopefully Major General Khanduri will work his magic in Uttarakhand now.

Paddington

March 19th, 2007, 12:46 PM

I think it's funny how they have a big ribbon cutting ceremony each time a flyover is built.

Suncity

March 19th, 2007, 03:21 PM

Road projects fail to reach destination (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=278041&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

I wonder if there is a connection between the UPA coming into power and the slowdown in the NHDP?

Hopefully Major General Khanduri will work his magic in Uttarakhand now.

The artcile has a amjor flaw. It does not mention how many kilometres of roads are under construction now.

http://www.nhai.org/chain_NS.asp

http://www.nhai.org/chain_EW.asp

Since a lot of stretches are under implementation and most of them are less than 100 kms each, these should be completed within the (revised) deadline.

The problem is with the yet to be awarded stretches or contract cancelled ones.

pding

March 19th, 2007, 11:54 PM

i agree. there are a lot of under implementation projects. and i have seen many of those under imp. projects under that category for several months some even more than a year.

also, we can't really compare the distance built under UPA and NDA b/c funding has been going up every year since then even if it is adjusted with the inflation, though that increase is not enough. but i still do think, if the NDA were in power right now, they'd be spending much more on NHDP than what UPA is spending.

superdesi2100

March 20th, 2007, 12:22 AM

Gangtok-Nathula road to be widened (http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=STATES&file_name=state8%2Etxt&counter_img=8)

The 54 km Gangtok-Nathula Highway would be widening from April in order to enchance international border trade with China.

According to Akhilesh Dixit, Commandant, Border Road Organisation (BRO) Project Dantak, out of the 54 km long existing road would be through with 20 km new alignment areas, where three half km long tunnel would be constructed above Kyongsla to Sherethang.

The cost would be Rs.775 crores and it would be completed by 2009-10. Another 92 km long Gangtok - Chungthang, North Sikkim Highway has been widening for double lane since last year where Gangtok to Phodong (30 km) been constructed already. The cost would Rs.1.4 crores per km & expected to complete by 2008-09.

He also said that an alternative road for Nathula via Reshi, Rongli, Pakyong & Zuluk near Nathula border is being planned by the GOI. However, the Government is facing problem in getting land in West Bengal, which covers the tea gardens.

He informed that a proposal has been made by the army to make another road with diversion from Sherethang to Nathula via Kupup. The Surface Transport Ministry has referred the proposal to the Defence Ministry in order to seek necessary funding the project.

Babji

March 21st, 2007, 03:48 AM

Pl note: this is not an Indian Hwy project, but a Civil Engg marvel ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6469941.stm
Grand Canyon glass Skywalk opens

The Grand Canyon's Skywalk has been inaugurated with hundreds of invited guests getting stunning views over the canyon through its glass walkway.
Rising 4,000ft (1,220m) from the canyon's floor and 70ft (20m) beyond its rim, the Skywalk is being described as an engineering first...

http://i3.************/49j3fbp.jpg

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17707007/?GT1=9145
http://i11.************/4c1hu0z.jpg

March 21st, 2007, 03:57 AM

Holy Shit! The Bangalore Airport expressway will be designed for speeds upto 180km/hr

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7646/bangaloreexpresswayhy6.jpg

Naga_Solidus

March 21st, 2007, 05:12 AM

hoschi

March 21st, 2007, 06:58 AM

Wow...180km/h on a suburban expressway...that's as cool as Germany, and since the same 180km/h has been in so many reports now, I guess its for real. Support it. BTW, it will be the highest posted speed limit in the world, beating the UAE by 20km/h.

Whoa whoa, lets not all be too excited about this.. After all this could be one of the thousand "lost oppurtunities"

raokiranj

March 21st, 2007, 07:27 AM

Whoa whoa, lets not all be too excited about this.. After all this could be one of the thousand "lost oppurtunities"

True .. and in any case, only a small percentage of vehicles here would actually reach that speed. For the most part ,we have Indicas and Qualises plying to the airport, and I doubt any of these would go beyond 140 kph

ferrari_fan

March 21st, 2007, 04:00 PM

it's being built with a "design speed of upto 180 kph"..

i think the speed limit will be significantly lower..

Bombay Boy

March 21st, 2007, 04:38 PM

yeah. i dont think indians are ready for speeds of 120 km/h in high traffic conditions, let alone 180

pding

March 22nd, 2007, 12:01 AM

120, ru kidding me?????? i'd say we're not even ready for 80 under high traffic circumstances.......180 is like Bermuda aiming to beat Australia or SA.

Naga_Solidus

March 22nd, 2007, 01:17 AM

u guys seem to be forgetting that this road will be totally grade-seperated, meaning there will be no cross-traffic. There will only be 3 access points if the diagram is to be belived, so there will only be 3 points of interaction with othe traffic streams along a 21km road, and all such interaction will be through free-flow interchanges, so there is very little chance of someone getting broadsided (if at all). With no intersections, this road won't have any red lights to run, only ramps that will smoothly merge with the rest of the roadway.

Lane discipline? It's probably going to have rumble strips and cats eyes, so if you stray from your lane you will hear noise and will instinctively go back. With such safety features, 120-180+ km/h is sustainable and possible. The main issue is whether your car can reach those speeds (most users will probably be doing 140-160km/h for a little while).

Also, it's going to be tolled both ways, so that will help control demand. Besides, slower traffic will still have the old NH7 and ORR, so the airport will still be accessible by those of us who don't want to pay or drive at 120-180km/h.

Fusionist

March 22nd, 2007, 02:05 AM

21 km stretch.. do it at about 180kmph.. with acceleration deceleration you cover it in 8 min. Do it at 120 kmph and you do it at 12mins. 4 mins difference, hardly worth pushing the pedals for. Unless ofcourse for pleaasure.

Naga_Solidus

March 22nd, 2007, 02:11 AM

Speed-limit free BMIC anyone? It's 111km to Mysore, and there aren't that many exits along the route once you leave Bangalore's ORR, so surely not bothering with an upper speed limit will work there?

March 22nd, 2007, 03:23 AM

Even though the expressway would designed for speeds of upto 180kmph, there would obviously be a speed limit and that I feel will be around 120kmph. Seeing how Indians drive without sticking to the lanes or even indicating that they are changing lanes, I wouldnt want to tear down the road at 180kmph and friggin hit a car.

The Delhi Gurgaon expressway is a paragon of how people are unwilling to change by not sticking to their lanes. 25 accidents have taken place since one of the sections opened to traffic. They've now reduced the speed limit and caught like 120 people acc to HT.

For BMIC,I think the speed limit would be around 100-120kmph. NICE's website says that expressway is designed for 120kmph.

http://www.nicelimited.com/
click on expressway at the bottom of the list.

vadi

March 23rd, 2007, 05:49 PM

oh 180 is only to ensure horizontal and vertical alignments are straight and flat enough.

if this road can move about 8K phpdt at about 60-80 kmph for about 5-6 hours a day that will be great. (note that there is 6 lane highway parallel to this)

is the airport end a potential bottle neck? will have to see the trumpet again.
they'll prolly need an arm heading directly to BIAL main access road and one to highway.

Naga_Solidus

March 23rd, 2007, 06:09 PM

a 60km/h speed limit is way too low for an expwy of any kind, IMO. Since a diagram posted in the Blore updates thread features 4 interchanges over 21km, perhaps the speed limit should in fact be well over 100km/h...or even well beyond 120 for that matter. After all, the newest and straightest Autostrada sections in Italy have a speed limit of 150km/h, and the UAE has a 160km/h speed limit on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway.

vadi

March 23rd, 2007, 07:08 PM

oh.. i meant in practice, if the roads can facilitate average travel speeds for high volumes during peak hours. i am not talking about what limits traffic control people set and what some people achieve.

ferrari_fan

March 24th, 2007, 02:23 PM

Naga_Solidus

March 24th, 2007, 05:13 PM

vadi

March 24th, 2007, 05:32 PM

i beleive germany capped allowable speeds on the 'bahns?

again, i not talking about posted speeds. only actual speeds of peak hour traffic.
60-75 is good.

Naga_Solidus

March 24th, 2007, 06:22 PM

They only capped them in urban areas due to exit spacing. Also, Germany has variable speed limits on some sections.

vadi

March 25th, 2007, 03:30 PM

thanks naga...

the expressway does not end on the highway. thats good.

forkdork

March 28th, 2007, 08:20 AM

Why not just get rid of speed limits on all expressway sections where the exits are more than 5km apart (exception: twisty mountain sections, like the Ghat segment of the MPE). This way, people will be able to drive at whatever speed makes them most comfortable (as long as it's at least 70km/h in a mountainous section and 100km/h otherwise). Going with a really high posted speed limit has the potential to cause the opposite problem to ridiculously low speed limits (the former will cause people who aren't comfortable with high speeds to drive at 150-180km/h, while the latter will disallow owners of well-engineered cars from using their full potential. In short, the former places undue stress on the incapable, while the latter is equivalent to punishing a sparrow for singing).

One example of what I'm suggesting can be found here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn).

I know what everyone's going to say now ("lane discipline sucks in India"/"it will cause too many accidents"/"India is not Germany"/blah blah blah), but I have some counterpoints.

LANE DISCIPLINE: I've stated this several times and I'll say it again. By building rumble strips into the lines seperating the shoulders from the main road, people will instinctively pull away from the shoulder because of the noise. The same principle can be partially used for lane seperation lines, i.e. rumble strips can be built into the broken white lane markings. This cause people to instinctively stay in their lanes. However, the rumbling noise won't be as profound since the unpainted bits between the white strips won't have rumble strips, so crossing the line will only result in an on-off sequence of rumbling, as opposed to continuois rumbling at the shoulders
ACCIDENTS: While it is true that by increasing speeds, you will lessen drivers' reaction times to unusual events, it is also important to know that on expressways, there are no intersections-there is no cross-traffic, so the only interaction with other traffic streams is at smoothly-merging ramps. Thus, by using larger road signs, it will be easier to notify someone traveling at, say, 200km/h of merging traffic. Also, since visibility is dramatically reduced at night, there should still be a blanket nightime speed limit (this is an accomodation for "Indian driving habits". FTR, the German Autobahn network doesn't have nighttime speed limits in derestricted sections).
INDIA IS NOT GERMANY: It doesn't mean we can't learn a little common sense from them. Besides, since every other country in Asia has speed limts (and India still has a few deristricted roads), why not make India serve the same role in Asia-Pacific that Germany serves for Europeans (for motorists, anyway)?

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS ESSENTIAL: Having an amazing road system doesn't preclude having a well-developed public transport system. Remember, Germany also has HSR in addition to the Autobahn network, not to mention light rail and stuff in most major cities.

There is far more to lane discipline than actually staying in a single lane. Drivers must know how to arrange themselves in lanes according to the speed at which they are travelling, drivers must be trained to yield to the faster moving vehicle, and most importantly, the drivers must be trained to have accurate judgement while traveling at these high speeds.

Considering that drivers still haven't grasped the concept of driving within the marked lanes, a 180kph highway would just be a deathtrap.

Your idea of rumble strips on the lanes isn't so bright for high speeds either. Have you ever hit a rumble strip at 180? That is definately not safe. Also, what is there to prevent drivers from putting their wheels in 2 different lanes with the broken white line running down the centre of their car?

FYI: you can still be issued a ticket on the de-restricted portions of the Autobahn if the officer feels that the speeds at which you are travelling are too fast for the conditions (IE 300kph at night).

We still havent touched base on how cars in Germany have to meet strict TUV requirements and are inspected regularly (Not the case in India), or how Germany has a very thorough drivers training program (unlike India, which puts the most incompetent drivers on the roads).

There is alot more to driving at high speeds than having proper roads.

kronik

March 28th, 2007, 06:00 PM

Govt willing to pay Rs 11,000 cr on rural roads (http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=159227)

A massive outlay of Rs 11,000 crore has been earmarked this financial year for laying of rural roads, a key component under the Bharat Nirman programme.

The rural roads scheme envisages linking of every habitation with 1,000 population and above with all-weather roads. In case of hilly and tribal areas, the population limit is 500 and above.

Sources in the rural development ministry, which is carrying out the ambitious rural connectivity project through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), said here on Tuesday that 66,802 habitations are proposed to be provided connectivity by 1.46 lakh km new roads, while 1.94 km existing routes are to be upgraded.

During the first two years of Bharat Nirman, launched in 2005-06, as many as 10,303 habitations have been connected by completing construction of 32,590 km new roads and upgrading 36,341 km routes at an expenditure of Rs.4,219.98 crore during 2005-06 and Rs.5,376.28 crore during 2006-07.

According to rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a “three-tier quality monitoring system” has been put in place to ensure proper quality of construction. For ensuring people's participation, information is provided on boards installed at all work sites, he said.

Besides, for transparency in management of the programme, an Online Management Monitoring Accounting System and Technical Audit Systems have been developed, he added.

Naga_Solidus

March 28th, 2007, 06:24 PM

There is far more to lane discipline than actually staying in a single lane. Drivers must know how to arrange themselves in lanes according to the speed at which they are travelling, drivers must be trained to yield to the faster moving vehicle, and most importantly, the drivers must be trained to have accurate judgement while traveling at these high speeds.

Considering that drivers still haven't grasped the concept of driving within the marked lanes, a 180kph highway would just be a deathtrap.

Your idea of rumble strips on the lanes isn't so bright for high speeds either. Have you ever hit a rumble strip at 180? That is definately not safe. Also, what is there to prevent drivers from putting their wheels in 2 different lanes with the broken white line running down the centre of their car?

FYI: you can still be issued a ticket on the de-restricted portions of the Autobahn if the officer feels that the speeds at which you are travelling are too fast for the conditions (IE 300kph at night).

We still havent touched base on how cars in Germany have to meet strict TUV requirements and are inspected regularly (Not the case in India), or how Germany has a very thorough drivers training program (unlike India, which puts the most incompetent drivers on the roads).

There is alot more to driving at high speeds than having proper roads.

I believe Germany has rumble strips on its Autobahn network. And Ive never heard of anyone spinning out and crashing after hitting a rumble strip.

Constant signs reminding all truck drivers to use the leftmost lane will help with the other lane discipline bit you just mentioned. And if trucks stick to the far left, then perhaps people won't have to pass on the left as much.

Also, undercover police officers (with unmarked cars equipped with lights in the grilles) can monitor lane discipline etc. (this is what they do in Germany btw)

These undercover police officers can also be given the tools and authority to perform on-the-spot car quality inspections If your vehicle fails the inspection, you pay an Rs. 1,000 fine and get escorted off the expressway by the cop. If your car passes the inspection, the cop gives you a window sticker and lets you go off on your own buisiness.

And as for the night driving bit, I already said that there should still be a speed limit of 80-130km/h (depending on the expressway's exit spacing) at night and during times of low visibility (such as fog) eariler on in the thread.

Lastly, all trucks shall get a blanket speed limit of 100km/h under normal daytime conditions and 85km/h at night, as well as in foggy conditions, heavy rain, etc.

Motorbike access is another issue. Currently, motorbikes are completely banned from all expressways in India. This is potentially iffy, for the following reasons (reasons for banning all motorbikes from expressways are in red, reasons against it are in green: )

Motorbike riders have much less safety protection than car occupants.
No motorbike has seatbelts, so the riders are almost invariably thrown off in accidents.
A significant number of motorbikes in India are incapable of 80+km/h
Banning all motorbikes from expressways invariably bans high-powered motorbikes. These brands include BMW (http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/), Ducati (http://www.ducati.com/), Aprilia (http://www.aprilia.com/home.asp), and Moto Guzzi (http://www.motoguzzi.it/), not to mention certain high-end Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha products.
Some recent Indian-market bikes (like some late-model Bajaj Pulsars) are capable of up to 110-120km/h...with just one rider.

The compromise is to allow motorbikes that pass a certain performance inspection, but not all motorbikes. Motorbikes will not have a daytime speed limit (this is to please superbike fans), but they will follow the truck speed limit at night. Riding a motorbike on an expressway without an inspection sticker (signifying that your vehicle has passed the inspection) will result in a fine of Rs. 2,500 and 5 points on your liscence. Also, motorbikes will not be allowed to carry passengers or sidecars on expressways since they affect handling.

The minimum cc required for a motorbike to be expressway-capable shall be 250cc for IC motorbikes to be eligible for inspection (which has to be done by the owner). Electric-powered ones will be required to pass the inspection.

To be cerified, a motorbike must meet the following rules:

Must meet Bharat Stage II emissions regulations.
Must be capable of at least 120km/h.
must do the 0-100km/h run in 12 seconds or less.

The inspection requirements for cars are the same, while trucks must meet the following rules:

Must meet Bharat Stage II emissions regulations.
Must be capable of 80km/h or more.

Vehicles that do not meet these expressway certifications can still use any expressway's frontage roads if they are present. If not, they can use any National Highway as long as it is not an expressway.

BTW, here's a link (http://www.abd.org.uk/motorwayspeedlimit.htm) with plent of info on speed limit opposition in the UK, with figures comparing drvier fatalities in the USA with driver fatalities in Germany, among other things.

Naga_Solidus

March 28th, 2007, 06:27 PM

Govt willing to pay Rs 11,000 cr on rural roads (http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=159227)

This is great news. How many of these roads will be paved, and of the paved ones, how many will be 2-lane roads with soft shoulders?

Also, will any of these roads have paralell irrigation corridors?

vadi

March 28th, 2007, 06:27 PM

forkdork...
well laid out arguments...

exactly due to the reasons that you made, i previously argued that daily driving at such speeds takes a heavy psychological toll on your average driver. especially on heavily trafficed roads.

this is true even in systems that have given a lot of attention to all aspects of it. Given quality of driver certification in India, the problem can only be graver .

naga,
you realize that practically, to implement what you are prescribing a complete overhaul of indian administration is necessary, right? if high speed roads can bring about these then viva hispeed roads viva revolucion viva che naga i say.

(all in spirit. no offence to you)

vadi

March 28th, 2007, 06:41 PM

good news...
how does this work? does the state have to approach the center with plans? it looks like the center is directly managing it which good. otherwise you'll add another skimming layer.

naga,
do you mean channels along the road?

Naga_Solidus

March 28th, 2007, 08:29 PM

Yes, I mean water channels. However, for safety reasons, I'd suggest building these water channels with some sort of grating on top, to prevent cars, bicycles, cows, etc. from falling in by accident.

The suggested paved 2-lane w/soft or tiled shoulders design is based on the design of various roads in rural Ventura County, CA. In rural areas around here, the through routes are 2-lanes with small hard shoulders and soft extensions, with the soft bits replaced with irrigation channels where said roads run next to farms. There are very few signals on them, most intersections are uncontrolled, and btw the speed limit is 55mph (and a lot of ppl drive at ~60mph with no center dividers). It's quite fun if you have a bit of bravado.

I take it the proposed new roads are meant to connect villages to NH routes.

Also, you said that to implement my suggestions a total administrational overhaul is needed. Plz elaborate.

forkdork

March 28th, 2007, 09:38 PM

I believe Germany has rumble strips on its Autobahn network. And Ive never heard of anyone spinning out and crashing after hitting a rumble strip.

Constant signs reminding all truck drivers to use the leftmost lane will help with the other lane discipline bit you just mentioned. And if trucks stick to the far left, then perhaps people won't have to pass on the left as much.

Also, undercover police officers (with unmarked cars equipped with lights in the grilles) can monitor lane discipline etc. (this is what they do in Germany btw)

These undercover police officers can also be given the tools and authority to perform on-the-spot car quality inspections If your vehicle fails the inspection, you pay an Rs. 1,000 fine and get escorted off the expressway by the cop. If your car passes the inspection, the cop gives you a window sticker and lets you go off on your own buisiness.

And as for the night driving bit, I already said that there should still be a speed limit of 80-130km/h (depending on the expressway's exit spacing) at night and during times of low visibility (such as fog) eariler on in the thread.

Lastly, all trucks shall get a blanket speed limit of 100km/h under normal daytime conditions and 85km/h at night, as well as in foggy conditions, heavy rain, etc.

You live in quite a dream world.

So now the police men (who are most definately corrupt) must be familiar with the law AND automotive mechanics? And on top of this, there has to be "undercover" officers monitoring lane use?

What a joke. I could go on, but I have better things to do.

BTW: The courtesy on Autobahns is not due to the drivers fear of getting a ticket, it is from proper Driver Training. Don't try to compare drivers in Europe with drivers in India.

indian soul

March 28th, 2007, 11:54 PM

I agree with forkdork with some points, although it may not be unhealthy to have dreams and fantasies.
The crux of the matter is that- serious political will is needed in India to tackle these issues. For example if corrupt police patrol with unmarked cars, there will not be any actual change. I always thought we should totally revamp the the way driving license is issued and transport department should have dedicated division for training and research. And only when these are whole-heartedly implemented and rules followed strictly, you can expect some change. I know there is a draft National policy on road safety gathering dust in the ministry. :wallbash:

Naga_Solidus

March 29th, 2007, 01:15 AM

You live in quite a dream world.

So now the police men (who are most definately corrupt) must be familiar with the law AND automotive mechanics? And on top of this, there has to be "undercover" officers monitoring lane use?

What a joke. I could go on, but I have better things to do.:cheers:

Dude...Germany has undercover cops on the autobahn. They do things like make sure ppl maintain the right distance from each other and the like.

I could easily go on about how x y z can't be done, and I can criticize those with a bit of a radical vision as "dreamers" and "out-of-touch with reality", but I have better things to do.

Luckystreak

March 29th, 2007, 10:57 PM

Rs 11k cr for rural roads under Bharat Nirman (http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=159174)

A massive outlay of Rs 11,000 crore has been earmarked this financial year for laying of rural roads, a key component under Bharat Nirman programme.
The rural roads scheme envisages linking of every habitation with 1,000 population and above with all-weather roads. In case of hilly and tribal areas, the population limit is 500 and above.

Sources in the Rural Development Ministry, which is carrying out the ambitious rural connectivity project through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), said.

That 66,802 habitations are proposed to be provided connectivity by 1.46 lakh km new roads, while 1.94 km existing routes are to be upgraded.

During the first two years of Bharat Nirman, launched in 2005-06, as many as 10,303 habitations have been connected by completing construction of 32,590 km new roads and upgrading 36,341 km routes at an expenditure of Rs.4,219.98 crore during 2005-06 and Rs.5,376.28 crore during 2006-07.

pding

March 29th, 2007, 11:17 PM

superdesi2100

March 29th, 2007, 11:31 PM

guys....why don't we see any action on the rural front especially when statistics show that huge allocations are being made to improve/build rural roads.....are we really seeing roads come up in rural areas to an extent that it can make any significant or atleast somewhat difference to the rural folk?

some pics of rural roads built under Bharat Nirman and BJP/NDA's Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna would be very helpful and enlightening....that will clear out the perception that huge money is being spent only for highways.

Well, I can certainly say that the money is being spent on roads. My ancestral village in Gujarat did not have any electricity, road and permanent water supply up until about 8 years ago. First came Electricity for 2 hours a day. Then came electricity for 12 hours a day and now electricity is there for 24 hours a day. ALL those who use it have to pay for it. Nothing is free.

Then came roads. Earlier it was one lane small road to the end of the village. Then came a 2 lane state highway connecting it with nearest town and now there are roads in the village. The roads are of very good quality and they have survived three monsoons now.

After Sardar Sarovar dam, there is a water supply there for 4 hours a day. Plus farmers get water from irrigation canals from the same dam. When I went there 3 months ago, I was surprised to see that people had 2 wheelers, mobile phones and of course televisions with cable. The houses are no longer mud huts but well built brick homes. I talked with the villagers about the change and they said that due to proper supply of electricity and water their agriculture yield has increased almost 3 fold. And due to better road connectivity and availability of vehicles, they are getting better market access to sell their stuff. So they were very happy. There is even a school up to 12th standard there and a small medical clinic. All this in 8 years. I felt really good when I saw all these positive changes...

pding

March 30th, 2007, 02:21 AM

Well, I can certainly say that the money is being spent on roads. My ancestral village in Gujarat did not have any electricity, road and permanent water supply up until about 8 years ago. First came Electricity for 2 hours a day. Then came electricity for 12 hours a day and now electricity is there for 24 hours a day. ALL those who use it have to pay for it. Nothing is free.

Then came roads. Earlier it was one lane small road to the end of the village. Then came a 2 lane state highway connecting it with nearest town and now there are roads in the village. The roads are of very good quality and they have survived three monsoons now.

After Sardar Sarovar dam, there is a water supply there for 4 hours a day. Plus farmers get water from irrigation canals from the same dam. When I went there 3 months ago, I was surprised to see that people had 2 wheelers, mobile phones and of course televisions with cable. The houses are no longer mud huts but well built brick homes. I talked with the villagers about the change and they said that due to proper supply of electricity and water their agriculture yield has increased almost 3 fold. And due to better road connectivity and availability of vehicles, they are getting better market access to sell their stuff. So they were very happy. There is even a school up to 12th standard there and a small medical clinic. All this in 8 years. I felt really good when I saw all these positive changes...

Superdesi: good to hear of such positive things, especially from Gujarat. in the Leftist infiltrated media, you rarely get to know the radical transformation of Gujarat.....and i'm not attributing it to only BJP/NDA. but def, i have yet to see any news article regarding the industrial prowess of Gujarat or the administrative efficiency of the present govt in any newspaper except few like the Pioneer and sometimes IE.

MYSTIC

March 30th, 2007, 07:57 PM

Well, I can certainly say that the money is being spent on roads. My ancestral village in Gujarat did not have any electricity, road and permanent water supply up until about 8 years ago. First came Electricity for 2 hours a day. Then came electricity for 12 hours a day and now electricity is there for 24 hours a day. ALL those who use it have to pay for it. Nothing is free.

Then came roads. Earlier it was one lane small road to the end of the village. Then came a 2 lane state highway connecting it with nearest town and now there are roads in the village. The roads are of very good quality and they have survived three monsoons now.

After Sardar Sarovar dam, there is a water supply there for 4 hours a day. Plus farmers get water from irrigation canals from the same dam. When I went there 3 months ago, I was surprised to see that people had 2 wheelers, mobile phones and of course televisions with cable. The houses are no longer mud huts but well built brick homes. I talked with the villagers about the change and they said that due to proper supply of electricity and water their agriculture yield has increased almost 3 fold. And due to better road connectivity and availability of vehicles, they are getting better market access to sell their stuff. So they were very happy. There is even a school up to 12th standard there and a small medical clinic. All this in 8 years. I felt really good when I saw all these positive changes...

The exact thing has happened to my ancestoral village in Kutch,Gujrat. 24 hours electricity,dispensary,water supply,schools etc... All rhis has happened after the earthquake. You can search for Adhoi,India on Google earth to see wat they've done to the village. Its been converted into a well planned town ever since the earthquake. With tax concessions there are several industries right outside the villages.

Naga_Solidus

March 30th, 2007, 08:27 PM

What's the Population of Adhoi? I just check it in GE and the contrast between the planned bit (with a divided road running through the center!) and the old bit (which looks like any other Indian village) is pretty astounding.

superdesi2100

March 30th, 2007, 10:23 PM

Superdesi: good to hear of such positive things, especially from Gujarat. in the Leftist infiltrated media, you rarely get to know the radical transformation of Gujarat.....and i'm not attributing it to only BJP/NDA. but def, i have yet to see any news article regarding the industrial prowess of Gujarat or the administrative efficiency of the present govt in any newspaper except few like the Pioneer and sometimes IE.

Well... let me tell you honestly.. Gujaratis don't care one bit about what National media has to say. National media reports a lot of wrong and negative stuff about Gujarat and that has created a lot of negative impression about Gujarat everywhere else in the country. Since this is a thread on Roads, let me tell you the development in the road sector that I have personally noticed -

Ahmedabad - Vadodara expressway - stalled during Congress rule was completed by BJP government.
Ahmedabad to Nathdwara travel used to take almost 8 hours earlier, now it takes less than 5 hours. Roads up to Rajasthan Gujarat border are excellent and you notice the difference the minute you enter Rajasthan.
Majority of state highways connecting major towns and cities have been converted to 2 lane roads. Almost 80% of the villages are connected with what they call 'all weather roads'. Contrary to popular perception - BJP doesn't get vote in Gujarat because of what they call communalism. They get votes because they get the work done.

Suncity

March 31st, 2007, 12:57 AM

Su in the Leftist infiltrated media, you rarely get to know the radical transformation of Gujarat.....and i'm not attributing it to only BJP/NDA. but def, i have yet to see any news article regarding the industrial prowess of Gujarat or the administrative efficiency of the present govt in any newspaper except few like the Pioneer and sometimes IE.

Leftist infiltrated media? Ask the Communists and they will tell you that the media is dominated by big business houses (capitalists - the eternal foes of the leftists) and is pro right wing.

Beyond all the politics, although the national (and even the local) media in India is generally free, they are usually not fair and balanced as they have their own agendas. Also they cover too much politics and provide very little coverage of positive developments. The justification is that the aim of the media is to question and expose and not to patronise.

pding

March 31st, 2007, 02:52 AM

Leftist infiltrated media? Ask the Communists and they will tell you that the media is dominated by big business houses (capitalists - the eternal foes of the leftists) and is pro right wing.

Beyond all the politics, although the national (and even the local) media in India is generally free, they are usually not fair and balanced as they have their own agendas. Also they cover too much politics and provide very little coverage of positive developments. The justification is that the aim of the media is to question and expose and not to patronise.

well, then, everytime i have seen any news piece on Gujarat, it has been about the obvious things which would earn those writers brownie points from the secularists. not once have i ever read about the infra and roads or anything like that in Gujarat except in Pioneer and IE.

i am not sure what you would call that???

and compare that to the attention that many other states receive, for example, AP, MH, TN, etc etc.

also, who cares about big business houses' connection with media. i'm not even talking about that. i am talking about the invisible (or perhaps visible) force in the media, where if you don't agree with the secularist view that BJP gets votes through communalism in GJ, you are framed as a Hindu fanatic/communalist/fundamentalist/chauvinist (i have started seeing this word off late)..........anyway, now that this issue has come up, i'll rephrase my statement. the media is irrevocably leftist infiltrated to the tune of 50%. in the rest 50%, most feel like it is their responsibility to keep up with the twisted view of "Indian Secularism" and dare not say anything against it, while they would be more than happy to run off a series on the barbaric forces of communalism which are involved in national politics...:bash:

IndiaRocks

March 31st, 2007, 04:37 AM

Well, I've been willing to start a thread on Gujarat infrastructure and economy for a while now. But for those aren't close to Gujarat and haven't been in touch with what's going on there, I'll summarize a few items:

1. Everybody mentioned roads above. Yes, Gujarat arguably has best infrastructure in terms of road. Baroda itself can boast of being connected to two "access controlled" freeways - Baroda-Ahmedabad and Baroda-Halol. All the other state highways in Gujarat have been upgraded and are at least 2 lanes paved if not 4, along with excellent signages.

2. The water of Narmada has reached far distant regions of Saurashtra and Kutch. The benefits of which everbody is reaping. Not to throw a political angle to it, but a lot of the work really got pushed to closure after the BJP came in.

3. Check dams on every river. The government is building around 270 check dams on 21 rivers.

4. Tourism has greatly been promoted in gujarat. There was an article in the tourism thread as to the result of this.

5. It is one of the leading states when it comes to e-governance.

6. Gujarat is on the verge of being an electricity surplus state. However, the central government seems to have Gujarat shelve out most of the electricity from the Narmada dam to Maharashtra and MP.

Just check out a few of the government's websites. You'll notice that they're quite professionally maintained compared to many other government websites.

http://www.gujaratindia.com/
http://www.gidb.org/

Guess I'll start that thread after all..

ferrari_fan

March 31st, 2007, 04:39 AM

Well... let me tell you honestly.. Gujaratis don't care one bit about what National media has to say. National media reports a lot of wrong and negative stuff about Gujarat and that has created a lot of negative impression about Gujarat everywhere else in the country. Since this is a thread on Roads, let me tell you the development in the road sector that I have personally noticed -

Ahmedabad - Vadodara expressway - stalled during Congress rule was completed by BJP government.
Ahmedabad to Nathdwara travel used to take almost 8 hours earlier, now it takes less than 5 hours. Roads up to Rajasthan Gujarat border are excellent and you notice the difference the minute you enter Rajasthan.
Majority of state highways connecting major towns and cities have been converted to 2 lane roads. Almost 80% of the villages are connected with what they call 'all weather roads'. Contrary to popular perception - BJP doesn't get vote in Gujarat because of what they call communalism. They get votes because they get the work done.

that's how a mature democracy is supposed to work isn't it?? but then it's so much easier to hand out TVs and rally for more reservations.. :(

kudos to Gujarat though - last year when i was there i actually did notice the difference in road quality when we crossed over to Gujarat from Rajasthan.. :)

superdesi2100

March 31st, 2007, 04:51 AM

Just check out a few of the government's websites. You'll notice that they're quite professionally maintained compared to many other government websites.

Guess I'll start that thread after all..

I don't think you will see much activity because of two reasons:

First, only English newspaper in Gujarat is TOI. IE is there but it doesn't cover much of the local news and TOI is not worth anything. TOI gives more importance to fashion shows in colleges in Ahmedabad.

Second, there aren't that many forumers from Gujarat here to give updates. I mean I am from Gujarat but I am currently in US. We don't have people here who actually live in Gujarat.

I don't see any purpose of having a thread like that. For example, Ahmedabad BRTS - is going on in full swing in Ahmedabad. The bridge they are building on the busiest intersection in Western Ahmedabad - Shivranjini Crossings - has precast girders and slabs. They are spending 34 crores more on precast so that construction schedule can be halved. And believe it or not, the project started on time and is scheduled to finish on time. First phase of BRTS is scheduled to open by end of this year, yet, you don't see much in the dedicated Ahmedabad BRTS thread in Projects. Mainly because there is no coverage whatsoever in TOI and there aren't any active forumers from Ahmedabad.

Naga_Solidus

March 31st, 2007, 05:22 AM

http://in.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/29speed.htm

The Ministry for Roads & Highways is planning to amend the archaic Motor Vehicles Act to increase the permissible highway speed limits for all kinds of vehicles.

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the maximum highway speed for two-wheelers is 50 km and it is 65 km for buses and trucks. As for cars, different states have varying speed limits.

While Haryana and Rajasthan have fixed a limit of 90 km on highways for cars, the UP government has not specified any limit. In Maharashtra, the maximum speed limit is around 80 km.

Under the planned amendment to the Act, the government is considering raising the speed limit for two-wheelers to 60-65 km and fixing the limit for cars at 90-100 km.

There will be no change in the speed limit for trucks and buses.

Says Vijay Singh, secretary in the ministry, "We are planning to amend the Motor Vehicles Act to ensure uniformity in the speed of passenger cars and up the limit for others."

The move is in sync with the fact that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been constructing highways and expressways over which vehicles can travel at 100-120 km.

High-speed highways require proper access controls (barricades on the roadside), which are being built by the Ministry for Roads and Highways, so that villagers and cattle do not stray onto roads.

Singh further points out, "Though the design speed specifications of highways and expressways are such that vehicles (typically cars) can ply at speeds of 100 to 120 km per hour, driving at such speeds is not advisable. Considering the safety aspect, and the fact that highways pass through various states, it is state laws that apply on cars." He said the government will also look into increasing the penalty for overspeeding.

My suggestion: 80 for 2-wheelers, 100-120 for cars (at-grade highways), nada for either on expressways during daylight hours (when the exits are 5km apart or more). Blanket 100km/h limit at night and during fog/heavy rain. 75km/h for buses and trucks (at-grade highways), 90km/h on expressways during daylight hours, 80km/h during nightime hours on expressways, 60km/h minimum for everyone.

pding

April 1st, 2007, 05:30 PM

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=279541&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

Rural roads scheme misses target by 54%

The ambitious rural road connectivity programme of the UPA government recorded a dismal performance in 2006-07, falling short of the target by nearly 54 per cent.

According to the targets under the Bharat Nirman programme, nearly 35,182 km roads were to be constructed during the year. The total sanctioned amount for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for 2006-07 was Rs 38,569 crore, of which the value of work done was less than half, at Rs 18,886 crore.

A look at the progress of the PMGSY reveals that only 16,328 km of *** roads were laid till February 2007. In addition, work on the upgrade and re***al of the existing roads fell 34 per cent short of the target. As against the target of 54,669 km for 2006-07, only 36,590 km of roads were completed.

Under the PMGSY, the government initially plans to connect all habitations with a population of 1,000 or more in the plains, and 500 in the hill states and tribal and desert areas.

Subsequently, areas with a population of 500 (250 in the case of hill states, and tribal and desert areas ) are to be covered. About 3.68 lakh km of *** roads are to be constructed. Another 3.70 lakh km of roads are to be upgraded or re***ed.

Nearly 18 states, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand were not able to achieve the target for 2006-07. In contrast, states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab achieved the target.

According to the government data, Jharkhand was short of the target by 91 per cent, West Bengal by nearly 67 per cent and Madhya Pradesh by 60 per cent.

It seems that the companies implementing the PMGSY also failed to keep pace in 2005-06. The companies were short of the target by 19 per cent.

why so much disparity between state to state????? some states seem to be doing good while others are totally lagging behind.....the govt needs to be more proactive....also, under which ministry would this scheme come into? is the Rural Infrastructure Minister or Minister for Highways and Roads responsible for Bharat Nirman?

superdesi2100

April 1st, 2007, 10:19 PM

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=279541&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

Rural roads scheme misses target by 54%

why so much disparity between state to state????? some states seem to be doing good while others are totally lagging behind.....the govt needs to be more proactive....also, under which ministry would this scheme come into? is the Rural Infrastructure Minister or Minister for Highways and Roads responsible for Bharat Nirman?

That should give us efficiency of state governments. It is appalling that states that were complaining earlier about lack of funds are now falling short on fully utilizing funds available now to them.

Bharat Nirman falls under two ministries - panchayati raj and rural development. Roads fall under Rural Development. In fact, I believe Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is doing a fine job.. at least better than Venkaiyah Naidu.

Mahratta

April 1st, 2007, 10:25 PM

that's how a mature democracy is supposed to work isn't it?? but then it's so much easier to hand out TVs and rally for more reservations.. :(

kudos to Gujarat though - last year when i was there i actually did notice the difference in road quality when we crossed over to Gujarat from Rajasthan.. :)

That happened to me a few years ago when I crossed from Maharashtra into Karnataka. Why oh why do my homestate's roads have to be so much worse than Karnataka's?

IndiaRocks

April 1st, 2007, 11:56 PM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/Out-of-town__cruises_to_get_costlier/articleshow/1842159.cms

Out-of-town cruises to get costlier

NEW DELHI: Two-lane national highways will now attract toll fee. The national tolling policy will introduce tolling of two-lane national highways for the first time. So far, toll has been charged on four and six-lane roads.

The policy, likely to be finalised this week, exempts two and three wheelers. Toll rates for both build-operate-transfer (BOT) and public-funded projects will be uniform and revised annually.

Two-lane highways will be tolled at 70% of the rate for four-lane highways. While the policy will introduce uniformity in toll rates for private and public-funded projects, there will be separate charges for expressways, tunnels, bypasses and ring roads.

Till now, charges for public-funded projects were revised every five years while those for BOT projects were revised annually. The new policy has, however, decided to increase toll rates for both the types of projects by 3% every year. Additionally, 40% of the annual increase in WPI will be incorporated in the revision of toll rates.

Concessions will be offered to frequent travellers, who can buy a monthly pass worth Rs 150. There will also be a 25% discount for the return journey if it is made the same day.

To check avoidance of toll, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will be permitted to set up barriers within a distance of 10 km from the toll plaza. However, permission will be given only in case of complaints of toll evasion at a particular toll plaza.

“The basic policy is ready. The specific toll rules, including the fee rules, will be finalised this week,” a government official said.

The minimum distance between two toll plazas has been set at 65 km. Currently, the average distance between plazas is about 45 km.

The government is also finalising a uniform tolling technology for electronic toll collection. NHAI would commission consultants for conducting studies and the technology is likely to cover the entire network throughout the country within three years.

pding

April 2nd, 2007, 12:07 AM

well, govt is not ready to spend much on roads....so, now even 2 lane roads are gonna have toll.

Naga_Solidus

April 2nd, 2007, 12:15 AM

The tolls are probably going to be used to fund the conversion of some key 4/6lane NH sections to expressways, as well as to fund the conversion of some 2-lane corridors to 2+1 corridors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road)

kronik

April 2nd, 2007, 06:12 AM

I think for somebody with a car, Rs. 150 a month is not bad at all. I wonder what kind of a pass it will be. I wonder how long it will take before the EZPass concept is introduced in India. They should start with the MPE and AMD-Vadodara expy.

Suncity

April 8th, 2007, 10:39 PM

Rs 2.2 lakh crore for NH devlopment
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rs_22_lakh_crore_project_for_NH_development/articleshow/1876365.cms

Pledging to give the "highest priority" to development of quality highways, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Centre is planning to implement an ambitious Rs 2.20 lakh crore programme in the next five years for improving the National Highways Network.

Laying the foundation stone for a bridge over Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Singh said the programme will be largely executed through public-private partnership.

"What is true for Assam is true for the rest of India as well. India has one of the largest road networks in the world and our Government has given highest priority to the development of better quality National Highways and construction of rural roads," Singh said.

The PM said the second bridge over the Brahmaputra near the city is part of the East-West corridor, which would connect the North East Region with the rest of the country and a high speed highway from Silchar to Srirampur is being constructed in Assam at an investment of Rs 6000 crore.

"I want this project completed as scheduled by December 2008. It will reduce the overall travel time and distance between the North East region and the rest of India," Singh said.

kronik

April 9th, 2007, 05:48 AM

Government yet to get full mileage from toll roads (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=280532&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Toll roads which are run by the government and private operators, as part of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), are raking in the moolah. But toll charges are being levied on just 21 per cent of the highways operational.

As part of the programme, 56 toll-road stretches in India covering over 2,800 km have generated about Rs 800 crore in 2006-07. But the cost of maintaining these roads comes to about Rs 510 crore per year, which includes the cost of toll operations.

While over 50 toll roads are run by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), six are run by private operators under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme. Under this scheme, a private operator builds and maintains a road for about 15 to 20 years, and gets to keep the toll income generated in this period, as per the rate set by the government.

Under the public-funded toll road scheme, the highways’ authority gets toll collected by private contractors, who are also responsible for the maintenance of these roads.

The irony is that, under the NHDP, over 13,150 km of highways have been constructed, but only 2,800 km of stretches are toll roads. Further, the stretches where toll charges are levied are not more than 50 km.

“Though toll roads are doing well, the government is not able to exploit the (scheme’s) full financial potential, because the stretches are small. If the length of the toll roads go up, the scheme will attract more players; even foreign participation may go up,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, assistant director, Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

So far, the stretches operating under the BOT scheme have been attracting a lot of private participation.

“We started operating the Durg-Raipur 30 km stretch in June last year, and our returns have been good. Toll collections on this stretch have exceeded the official projections.

“Though this is our only completed BOT stretch so far, we expect good returns from the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway also, which will be ready by September this year,” said Subroto Chaudhury, executive director (business development), DS Constructions.

Experts also feel the government needs to change its tactics in order to make public-funded stretches as viable as the ones under the BOT scheme. “As there are more public-funded roads, the government should go in for toll audit to extract the maximum benefit out of them,” said PwCs’ Udgirkar. This, he said, would help the government in determining the actual financial position, as there is always a possibility that money could be siphoned off by the contractors hired by the highways’ authority.

He added that, like in BOT projects, the government should offer long-term contracts to players for collecting toll on public-funded roads, which will ensure greater income.

kronik

April 9th, 2007, 05:55 AM

Road Project update from the North-East

Projects worth Rs 956 cr for Assam: Baalu (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=280495&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Projects worth Rs 956 crore have been approved by Union road transport and highways ministry for Assam during 2006-07.

Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu, here for the foundation-laying ceremony of a bridge next to the Saraighat bridge over Brahmaputra river by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, said four district headquarters would be linked by two-lane roads in the first phase of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the northeast.

Ten district headquarters will be linked by two-lane roads in the second phase to complete the linking of all 26 district headquarters, he said.

The ministry would consider transferring more national highways to the state Public Works Department from the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Baalu, who reviewed the progress of SARDP with chief ministers of northeastern states here last night, said the BRO would complete a road from Mao to Moran in Manipur and the state PWD will complete 44 pending projects from Moran to Imphal within two months. The alignment of National Highway 44 in Tripura will be discussed with the BRO and the state government in New Delhi on April 11.

The latter has proposed an alignment for the high way between Laldingabari to Kanchanpur passing through militancy-prone areas where traffic is sparse, he said.

Euromast

April 9th, 2007, 09:27 AM

Hi Indiansunite
Do u have latest pics of gur-delhi expressway?
Euromast:banana:

IFFCO Chowk [ 1.3kms] and South City [.8kms] Flyovers were opened on the Del-Ggn Expressway today.

The scene looks pretty bad in this pic
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2501/20070303a004103009iz5.jpg
Hindu Mar3

Looks better..
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7720/gurp1art02282007121709fh8.jpg

kronik

April 12th, 2007, 08:42 AM

new update from The Tabloid's ePaper. Sorry, no link.

Expressway loop to open in May

New Delhi: Motorists commuting on the busy Delhi-Gurgaon expressway might soon see some relief from traffic snarls and long jams. According to D S Constructions, the private firm constructing the expressway, with the opening of the first loop from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport next month in May, traffic heading from the IGI airport towards Dhaula Kuan will no longer have to take the service road.

‘‘With the opening of this loop, traffic coming from IGI will join the expressway. Secondly, the traffic coming from Gurgaon towards Mahipalpur and Vasant Kunj would not have to take the detour from Shiv Murti to reach the Mahipalpur crossing. The traffic will move straight and reduce travelling time hassle,’’ said D S Constructions spokesman Rafiq Khan.

Khan added that the other loop from Delhi-Mahipalpur carriageway towards IGI airport would be operational from July. Once the second loop is also opened, vehicles coming from Delhi towards IGI airport will be able to take the expressway instead of the service lane. TNN

superdesi2100

April 12th, 2007, 06:06 PM

New NH projects to cost Rs 8,900 cr (http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?id=37545&template=)

The government on Thursday cleared implementation of various four-laning projects that would cost the exchequer over Rs 8,900 crore.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The implementation of four-laning of 780 km of National Highways on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis in Bihar would cost Rs 6,782 crore.

Whereas, the four-laning projects in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh would cost Rs 1,616 crore.

The CCEA also gave its approval for undertaking the Rs 557 crore project for providing four-lane connectivity to the proposed International Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam in Kochi.

NHDP III expansion

The project will be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and is to be completed within 30 months commencing April, 2007.

The government also gave its approval for the further expansion of the third phase of National Highways and Development Programme (NHDP), under implementation since 2005, to include upgradation of 996 km of road stretches.

Besides, 7,294 km of the total 12,109 km of roads under NHDP III would be upgraded on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs 47,557 crore.

According to a decision taken by CCEA, Rs 29,869 crore would be borne by the private sector and Rs 17,688 crore would be chipped in by the government.

Luckystreak

April 12th, 2007, 09:15 PM

Does anybody have an idea on which routes is the NHDP-III going to be implemented? Any map?

Luckystreak

April 12th, 2007, 09:24 PM

^^
aha...I found it..

http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase3.asp

pding

April 12th, 2007, 09:55 PM

New NH projects to cost Rs 8,900 cr (http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?id=37545&template=)

regardless of how optimistic i try to be, i only become more pessimistic reading these reports...in Bihar 780 km upgradation will cost some 6500+ crores. and we are spending 10,000 crores every year on NHDP. see the disparity between demand and "supply"? i need some new drugs to be discovered which can make you feel happy and all propped up even when one reads reports like this one. i don't know what it'll take GoI to realise it has to step up investment in infra, atleast for the sake of its own political future.:ohno:

pding

April 12th, 2007, 10:00 PM

^^
aha...I found it..

http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase3.asp

not sure which stage the tendering process is right now, but seems like most of Phase III is yet to be awarded.

question to the gurus, why are there many stretches covering only single digit distances? is it lack of proper planning by the NHDP officials?

superdesi2100

April 12th, 2007, 10:29 PM

regardless of how optimistic i try to be, i only become more pessimistic reading these reports...in Bihar 780 km upgradation will cost some 6500+ crores. and we are spending 10,000 crores every year on NHDP. see the disparity between demand and "supply"? i need some new drugs to be discovered which can make you feel happy and all propped up even when one reads reports like this one. i don't know what it'll take GoI to realise it has to step up investment in infra, atleast for the sake of its own political future.:ohno:

Correct me if I am wrong but I think there is unused money from last 2 years that is going to be used this year and hence 10k crore figure may seem low. In last two years the road work slowed down to a great extent mainly due to negotiations on model BOT/PPP agreements. According to the NDTV report, government is going to spend 17k crore on NHDP 3 only in next 3 years. Moreover, 2/3rd of the money is coming from private players. So even if the government is spending less, there is a scope for significant increase in private investment...

pding

April 12th, 2007, 11:36 PM

Correct me if I am wrong but I think there is unused money from last 2 years that is going to be used this year and hence 10k crore figure may seem low. In last two years the road work slowed down to a great extent mainly due to negotiations on model BOT/PPP agreements. According to the NDTV report, government is going to spend 17k crore on NHDP 3 only in next 3 years. Moreover, 2/3rd of the money is coming from private players. So even if the government is spending less, there is a scope for significant increase in private investment...

so, has private investment already started? if yes, then are there any comprehensive reports on total public and private investments into national highways?

superdesi2100

April 13th, 2007, 12:13 AM

so, has private investment already started? if yes, then are there any comprehensive reports on total public and private investments into national highways?

Well, the government just recently (I believe 2 months ago) finalized model agreement for PPP. So we will see real participation in near future, hopefully. Let me quote for that NDTV report from the previous page:

According to a decision taken by CCEA, Rs 29,869 crore would be borne by the private sector and Rs 17,688 crore would be chipped in by the government.

Luckystreak

April 13th, 2007, 01:28 AM

so, has private investment already started? if yes, then are there any comprehensive reports on total public and private investments into national highways?

Financing of the National Highway Development Programme

http://infrastructure.gov.in/pdf/NHDP.pdf

April 14th, 2007, 02:55 AM

Rs 900-cr highway to Sikkim
(http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070413/asp/siliguri/story_7640191.asp)

Darjeeling, April 12: A drive to Sikkim is all set to become a breeze along a faster highway with a few new tunnels and bridges on the way.

The only road link between Sikkim and the rest of country is set to be converted into a two-lane highway with the Centre deciding to invest around Rs 900 crore in the next two years.

The stretch between Sevoke and Gangtok along NH 31A, covering an approximate distance of 90 kilometres, has been included under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East region. One-third of the stretch falls within Bengal.

The project is being executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and tenders are expected to be floated within the next four to five months. “A detailed project report (DRP) is in its final stage of being prepared,” R.P. Singh, project director, NHAI, told The Telegraph over phone from Siliguri. The project has been allotted under the Phase I of the accelerated road development programme, which is expected to get over by 2009.

Though the report has not been finalised, the two-lane highway will have “paved shoulders” for cyclists and pedestrians. At least three tunnels are expected to be dug along the winding route and a numbner of bridges built. “Efforts will be made to ensure that the highway does not have any sharp bend,” Singh said. The new road is also expected to cut down on the distance a little.

The NH 31A, which is approximately between 3 and 3.5 metres wide, will be broadened by seven metres. Additional room for pedestrians will be thrown open, which is expected to increase the total breadth of the road to somewhere between 11 and 12 metres. The lane is expected to make the highway safer for pedestrians.

The accelerated road development programme has been formulated for the repair and renovation of not only national highways, but also state roads and other routes of strategic importance.

__________________________

Meanwhile news from the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway...

Kapashera interchange plan gets DDA’s green signal

New Delhi, April 13: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) may finally be able to construct its controversial interchange at Kapashera with clover leaves at the intersection along the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway.

DDA’s technical committee has given the go-ahead for the interchange, a little off the site where an underpass was originally planned.

“A four-clover plan at Kapashera interchange near Shiv Murti has been cleared by the technical committee after studying its feasibility,” said R N Mehrotra, Project Manager (Flyovers), DDA South-East zone.

Read On Here (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=231570)

_________________

Its funny how these DSC/NHAI/DDA idiots have screwed on the planning aspect of this expressway.:bash: First it was supposed to be thrown open in 2005 and now it has shifted the date to September. Furthermore now that the expressway is getting complete,old plans to construct interchanges and cross flyovers and an underpass at the Gurgaon end are resurfacing. Add to that they didnt even think about the pedestrians who have to cross the expressway. Around 20 peds have died since part of the expressway was opened. And its only now that DSC/NHAI has woken up to realize that they should have built FOB's along with it. BTW 3 FOB's have been approved..lets hope more are approved.

April 14th, 2007, 07:14 PM

This is the only remaining flyover on the Del-Gur Expressway U/C and will be completed by Sept07. Its about 1.6kms long and the 1st on the Delhi side.
Copyright VM2827
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/7944/4458963411fef4650feoac0.jpg

View Enlarged
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3813/4458963411fef4650feomm6.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4458963411fef4650feomm6.jpg)

superdesi2100

April 15th, 2007, 05:00 AM

Villagers pick up guns for a road
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/28418.html

Gun-toting men are not an unusual sight in rural Bihar. But the men who have lined up along a road in Chilbildih have a unique mission.

They just want to ensure that the road is built—that’s what they have been demanding for years.

They armed themselves and began guarding the 7.53-km road from Dandwa to the Madaee river after contractors refused to take up the project because of Maoist terror threats.

“I have never seen a road here in my lifetime,” said 70-year-old Basudeo Yadav of Chilbildih as he watched the road-rollers move on.

The road began its journey in 1979 but the work was abandoned. In 1997-98, the government began construction of a 4-km stretch but it stopped after 1 km.

Under pressure from the residents and the local MLA, the Rural Engineering Organisation (REO) of the road department finally floated a tender for construction in December 2006. But no contractor was ready to take up the work because of the Maoist threat. “We approached some contractors and assured them that we will provide security and they agreed. Finally, the main contractor sub-contracted the work to us and we accepted it as a challenge,” said Vijay Bahadur, president of the anti-Naxal front formed by the residents. The front has brought in labourers and hired machines for the work.

Construction started last month and the residents have provided round-the-clock cover to the men and machines. They have roped in all the licensed arms from the area and even from their relatives elsewhere. “This road is very important for us. We have got it after a long battle. Now we don’t want to lose it at any cost,” said Guddu Singh pointing out that the Naxals have demanded a levy of 5 per cent from a budget of Rs 2.3 crore for the road.

So have the police failed to ensure security? Rohtas SP N.H. Khan refutes it. “We are providing adequate security cover for all construction work in the district. In this case, we have posted 10 Special Auxiliary Police (SAP) jawans in the local police outpost. So there is no question of local residents picking up the gun,” Khan said.

Members of the anti-Naxal front, however, said that the police visit the construction site once in a while. “They will come only after the Naxalites strike. But even one incident will shake the confidence of outsiders who are engaged in the construction work. So we are not depending on the police,” said Vijay Bahadur.

Thomas I

April 15th, 2007, 07:03 PM

Your idea of rumble strips on the lanes isn't so bright for high speeds either. Have you ever hit a rumble strip at 180? That is definately not safe.

I've hit a rumble strip at 220kph today - no problem...

Also, what is there to prevent drivers from putting their wheels in 2 different lanes with the broken white line running down the centre of their car?

1. Police
2. High Fines

FYI: you can still be issued a ticket on the de-restricted portions of the Autobahn if the officer feels that the speeds at which you are travelling are too fast for the conditions (IE 300kph at night).

In reality no police car can made 300kph and no speed-camera is able to handle speeds over 250kph...
Driving too fast in fog or snow is a more common reason...

We still havent touched base on how cars in Germany have to meet strict TUV requirements and are inspected regularly (Not the case in India), or how Germany has a very thorough drivers training program (unlike India, which puts the most incompetent drivers on the roads).

There is alot more to driving at high speeds than having proper roads.

Thats right but dont forget that Germany has much transit traffic.
There are cars and drivers from whole Europe, Russia, North Africa etc. on the Roads - and they are often not better prepared than cars and drivers I've seen in Asia....

kronik

April 16th, 2007, 06:45 AM

780 km Bihar highways to be four-laned (http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=281051&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved four-laning of 780 km of national highways in Bihar under the National Highway Development Programme’s (NHDP) Phase III A. This is over the stretches (4,035 km in all), earlier approved for four-laning.

However, the clearance has been given on the condition that the procedure for obtaining clearances from the Public-Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) will be followed. With this, the total length of national highways to be upgraded under NHDP-III A would go up to 4,815 km.

The upgrade of 780 km of national highways in Bihar would be done at a cost of Rs 6,782 crore on a BOT (built, operate and transfer) basis. For the entire Phase III (including parts A and B totalling 11,113 km), the CCEA also approved the inclusion of 996 km of national highways. The total length of national highways to be upgraded under Phase III of the NHDP would now be 12,109 km.

While 4,815 km of national highways are to be four-laned under Phase- III A, the remaining 7,294 km are to be covered under Phase-III B. The CCEA also approved the upgrade of the 7,294 km on a BOT basis at a cost of Rs 47,557 crore.

Further, the CCEA approved four-lane connectivity to the international container transshipment terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam in Cochin. The cost of the project is Rs 557 crore.

The project will be been undertaken according to the commitment given to the licensee of the terminal. The project will be implemented by the NHAI and is to be completed, beginning later this month, within 30 months.

The CCEA also approved awarding three sub-projects for four-laning of the Khalghat-Madhya Pradesh/Maharashtra border section of NH-3 (totalling 82.8 km), Hazaribagh-Ranchi section of NH-33 (total 71.16 km) and Rohtak-Hissar section of NH-10 (total 89.36 km).

April 18th, 2007, 09:42 PM

Haryana to build Rs.44 bn expressway
(http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/news/article_1293130.php/Haryana_to_build_Rs.44_bn_expressway)
Chandigarh, April 18 (IANS) The Haryana government Wednesday announced that a second expressway would be constructed in the state at a cost of Rs.44 billion.

The 267-km Ambala-Rohtak-Bawal (ARB) expressway would be the state's second expressway after the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway the contract of which has already been awarded.

The expressways are expected to greatly help industry and facilitate inter-state movement of goods significantly decongesting the National Highway 1 and reducing the distance between Bawal and Ambala by 50 kms.

Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hsiidc) Managing Director Rajeev Arora said Wednesday that the ARB expressway will provide a vertical axis from the Rajasthan-Haryana border on National Highway 8 near the Bawal industrial area up to the Punjab border near Ambala.

'The expressway will also help the industry and other development works in the backward areas of districts like Kaithal, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Mahendergarh,' said Arora.

The feasibility study of the ARB expressway would be given to a consultant, Arora added.

He said that the new expressway would also be constructed on the build, operate and transfer (BOT) plan.

________________________________

KMP project to be speeded up

Chandigarh, April 17. (PTI): The Haryana Government has asked the Concessionaire of Kundli-Manesar-Expressway (KMP) project, M/s KMP Expressways Limited, New Delhi, to accelerate the progress of work at the site so as to complete it within the scheduled period of three years.

The directions were given to the Concessionaire in a meeting of the high-powered committee to monitor the progress of Kundli-Manesar-Expressway (KMP) project and sort out pending issues concerning various related departments with respect to their approvals and clearances, here.

During the meeting, the Concessionaire was also asked to give the completion schedule of the project so that the same could be reviewed on a monthly basis, an official spokesman said.

April 18th, 2007, 09:58 PM

This is the probable route of the ARB expressway. KMP expressway is the one in teal and work has started on it. BTW NH71A already exists on the Bawal-Rohtak route.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3246/arbexpresswayor5.jpg

pding

April 19th, 2007, 12:46 AM

NCR areas are experiencing huge infra and roads boom!

cptracker

April 20th, 2007, 02:18 AM

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=232421

Chandigarh-Delhi NH to get 6 flyovers by 2009

Varinder Bhatia

Chandigarh, April 18: COME 2009, the Chandigarh-Delhi National Highway promises to be a smooth, traffic-free drive. Six flyovers, costing nearly Rs 1,000 crore, will help travellers bypass traffic snarls at Zirakpur, Baldev Nagar (Ambala), Panipat, Samalkha, Ghanaur and Murthal.

The Panipat flyover - the longest at 3.4 km - being constructed by Larsen & Toubro will be one of its kind in Asia and aims at providing a comfortable sail through at Panipat, where travellers get stuck in bottlenecks and crowded marketplaces.

Work for converting the national highway from Kundli barrier to Panipat into a six-lane highway is going on at full swing and is expected to be completed in two years time.

Zirakpur flyover
Company — GMR
Cost — About Rs 282 crore
Length — 2.7 km
Date of Commencement — May 15, 2006
Deadline — November 2008

Company officials claimed that they will beat the November 2008 deadline for completion of the four-lane flyover at Zirakpur. The flyover will start about 500 metres before the Zirakpur traffic light and will pass over Zirakpur Market.

Panipat flyover
Company — Larsen & Toubro
Cost — About Rs. 369 crore (including 3.4 km of flyover and widening of highway to six-lane)
Length — About 3.4 km
Date of Commencement — January 23, 2006
Deadline — January 2009

L&T officials said they might complete the 10-km stretch of the six-lane Access Controlled Highway at Panipat ahead of schedule. The six-lane flyover is the only one of its kind on the highway. The construction, which is about 40 per cent complete, is being manned by more than 150 engineers and 2,000 workers. The new elevated section is being constructed on a build, operate, transfer (BOT) basis by the L&T Panipat Elevated Corridor Company, which has a 20-year concession agreement starting in January 2006. A toll will be collected at the bridge after its completion and will carry on till January 2026.

Samalkha flyover
Company — Ircon International Limited
Cost — About Rs 122 crore (including flyover and 20 km of widening of highway to six-lane)
Length — 1 km
Date of Commencement — May, 2006
Deadline — October 2008

This flyover will allow traffic to bypass the busy Samalkha city beyond Panipat. With 30 per cent work over, officials at the Ircon International Limited camp-office near Samalkha claim it will be completed by mid 2008. The six-laning of the highway is also going on simultaneously.

Murthal and Ghanaur flyovers
Company — Valecha Engineerings Limited
Cost — Over Rs 200 crore (for flyovers and widening of about 19 km to six-lane)
Length — 1.1 km at Gannaur and 910 metres at Murthal
Date of Commencement — January 1, 2006
Deadline — March, 2008

The Mumbai-based engineering company has taken up the widening of the 21.70 km of highway, including construction of two flyovers. The two flyovers, one in Murthal and another in Gannaur, will allow traffic to pass over the two busy cities. The company has started widening the highway from the 44 km milestone and will go on till the 66 km milestone (approaching from Delhi).

Diversions
1. Diversions on the Chandigarh-Ambala road to stay for at least a year.
2. People commuting between Zirakpur and Ambala will encounter diversions on the Ambala-Zirakpur route because of flyover construction work at Baldev Nagar city, Ambala and Zirakpur.
3. According to NHAI officials, heavy vehicle traffic is likely to remain affected till work at Ghaggar bridge is completed. The existing bridge, though repaired, needs to be tested as to whether it can support heavy traffic or not.

April 20th, 2007, 10:34 PM

^^
thats NH1 :)
_____________________

News from the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway-

Automated tolling system on the Expressway

The system will be operational from September. There will be three toll plazas – at IGI Airport, Delhi-Haryana border and end of project road. Once the toll collector has classified the vehicle and received the money, AVC, through its sensors, checks the class of the vehicle. These images are available for 190 days. — Rafi Quadar Khan

TO STOP any misappropriation in the collection of toll revenue, an automated tolling system is going to be introduced on the Express Highway at NH 8. The toll system will be operational from September. The Expressway will have three toll plazas, one at the IGI airport, one at Delhi-Haryana border and one at the end of the project road. At the border the toll plaza will be of 32 lanes. It will be one of the largest toll plazas in India, perhaps one of the largest in Asia, claimed Rafi Quadar Khan, GM, DS Constructions, the company in charge of constructing the highway .

The company has plans to install sophisticated toll collection systems to accurately collect the toll revenue, efficiently and without leakages from the road users. The system will be fully auditable and comprises multiple checks per transaction to ensure that the correct revenue is collected from the motorist. Also reliable management information system reports (MISR) will be promptly available to the management.

DSC is deploying a dual mechanism of controlling the revenue automatic vehicle classifiers (AVC), being used for the first time in India, and violation enforcement systems (VES).

“Once the toll collector has classified the vehicle and has received the money AVC, through , its sensors checks the class of the vehicle and if there is a difference in CC (cashier class) and AVC class, the VES camera installed in the lanes takes a picture of the vehicle and an incident is generated in the system. These images that are captured by the VES are available for a period of 180 days on the MIS system,” said Khan. There will be a few lanes in which vehicles need not even stop.

Even with the use of smart card technology users don’t have , to worry about carrying cash to pay the toll. They have to buy a smart card and stick it to the vehicle. They do not have to stop after that at the toll plaza.

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5567/delgurexpressway1nz9.jpg

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/962/delgurexpressway2pr0.jpg

Aesthetic experience

WORK ON the designs to beautify medians, provision of benches and rotaries under the flyovers, side lanes, pathways and horticultural work are underway to make the Expressway an aesthetically beautiful driving experience. The Expressway will be divided into three zones.

VIP Route: This section will be between Rao Tula Ram Marg and the Delhi-Haryana border. It will be colour coded yellow with special vertical signage (I-shaped) and high intensity inclined lighting.

Commuters Realm: The stretch between the toll plaza and Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon will be colour-coded green with a Tshaped signage.

Tourist Paradise: This stretch of the Expressway will be from Rajeev Chowk to the end of the Expressway on NH 8 towards Jaipur. This segment will be colour coded red and will have inverted L-shaped signages.

The lighting is one of the strongest features on the road. It defines the entire space at night. “The median is the largest empty space in the high real estate value zone. By virtue of its shape and position, it takes on the basic functions of signage, lighting, electrical sub stations and other services,” said Rafi Quadar Khan, GM, DS Constructions.

Median, by far, is the one constant that runs throughout the Expressway untouched and, therefore, is one of the strongest elements for giving the project its identity The addition of colour to . some of the key design components, especially the three split zones, will bring an aesthetic appeal to the Expressway added , Khan. SOS phones will be installed every two km on the highway to help the users to contact the Expressway control room in case of any emergency .

On the VIP stretch of the Expressway CCTV cameras will be placed till the IGI Airport for surveillance of these areas.

via HT

pding

April 20th, 2007, 10:45 PM

imo, that's a lot of toll booths on one side (?) of the highway..

April 20th, 2007, 10:48 PM

16 either side. I am not sure if this is the most number of lanes in Asia as claimed by the Rafi Quadar Khan but anyways,its good as the number of cars using the expressway is pretty big

It will be one of the largest toll plazas in India, perhaps one of the largest in Asia, claimed Rafi Quadar Khan, GM, DS Constructions, the company in charge of constructing the highway .

April 21st, 2007, 01:40 AM

Five flyovers (interchanges) to come up on KMP Expressway (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=232638)

Gurgaon, April 20: Five flyovers (interchanges) have been proposed on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway to decongest a stretch that cuts across NH1, NH2, NH8 and NH10.

The 135 km-expressway also hopes to propel economic growth in this mainly agrarian region, besides ensuring smooth traffic flow.

Seven overpasses and nine underpasses have been proposed at state highway and major district road crossings on the expressway.

Unlike the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, which does not have any pedestrian crossings so far, 62 pedestrian crossings have been proposed during the initial stage for the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway.

Keeping in mind the villages along the expressway, 32 agricultural vehicular underpasses have been planned in addition to 27 underpasses proposed at crossings of village roads and four railway overbridges.

Approval has been sought from the Ministry of Railways for the general arrangement drawings. 31 cattle crossings will be constructed and the expressway will also have two truck parking lots and four bus bays for better traffic movement.

“We received clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the project,” says H S Kohli, chairman, KMP Expressways. So far, 38 lakh cubic metres of earthwork has been done on the expressway. “We want to complete the project ahead of schedule, which is July 2009,” adds Kohli.

“The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructural Development Corporation (HSIIDC) is considering design changes on NH1,NH2, NH8 and NH10 for better upgrade interchange,” said an HSIIDC official.

The project has also received a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board. The requisite permissions from the PWD (B&R), Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, BSNL, Irrigation Department, etc have been obtained for the project, according to KMP Expressways Limited.

Till date, the HSIIDC has transferred 3,330 acres of land out of a total of 3,354 acres to KMP Expressways Limited. :) “The remaining 24 acres of land is in the process of being acquired and transferred,” said the HSIIDC.

______________________

Video presentation of the KMP expressway [165MB] can be downloaded from this link
http://dsconstructions.com/downloads/kundli-manesar-palwal.zip

I skimmed though the video the other day and its pretty descent. It shows more about the developments around the expressway than of the actual road DSC plans to build.

And this video [200 MB] is of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. Its Slightly better and shows the some work done around the 2005-06 time frame.
http://dsconstructions.com/downloads/Delhi-Gurgaon-Presentation.zip

April 21st, 2007, 04:31 PM

I requested some pics from DS ltd,the company building the KMP expressway. The pics are a little old,but its good to see work is in full swing :okay:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/2153/92197573bi4.jpg

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/5093/74265434lj8.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9227/92571384ww9.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/5850/31364319hj3.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3865/29661749oa6.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/996/63005984mw7.jpg

fakarpur :lol:,Gurgaon dist
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/7189/67449141bg0.jpg

patli,Gurgaon dist
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/382/75652014pp3.jpg

Sohna
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9977/52953006ix7.jpg

April 23rd, 2007, 01:58 AM

NHDP projects fall short of target again (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/NHDP_projects_fall_short_of_target_again/articleshow/1940458.cms):ohno:

NEW DELHI: The North-South and East-West corridor projects of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) have fallen short of target yet again.

Out of a targeted award of 1,758 km in 2006-07, the government has been able to award just 48% or 845 km. The Prime Minister’s Committee on Infrastructure (CoI) has asked NHAI to review delay and the resulting cost over-runs.

“The North-South and East West corridor project, or phase II of NHDP, is facing serious cost and time over-runs due to delay in land acquisition,” a government official said. NHAI has not been able to match award targets since bulk of the land is yet to be acquired.

NHDP-II is scheduled for completion by 2009. CoI had asked NHAI to undertake a review of costs of the project earlier this year. Though the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways was supposed to have completed the cost review by March, NHAI is yet to finalise the terms of reference before it appoints experts for the same.

“Average cost of construction of the project, worked out at about Rs 5.85 crore per km, was found to be too high,” the official said. The Planning Commission had raised concerns over the high cost of construction and recommended cutting costs.

NHDP-III A, too, has showed a dismal performance in the 2006-07 fiscal. While the target for award was 1,603 km, the achievement has been just 314 km, or 20% of the target. Out of a targeted expenditure of Rs 10,195 crore for phases II, III and V in 2006-07, the achievement has been moderate, with 66% or Rs 7,074 crore spent in the fiscal.

Under the direction of the Prime Minister, the ministry of road transport and highways is expediting implementation of highway projects estimated at Rs 2,20,000 crore by 2012. The government has set a target of awarding 175 contracts covering a length of 15,803 km on build operate-transfer (BOT) basis by March 2008.

________________
NHDP may go the extra mile to attract foreign funds (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/NHDP_may_go_the_extra_mile_to_attract_foreign_funds/articleshow/1940707.cms)

NEW DELHI: The government plans to invite bids for longer stretches of road projects in the phase V of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) to attract foreign investors.

In the first phase, the government will award 1,067 km by July 2007 at a cost of Rs 7,425 crore. In the second phase, 1,928 km will be awarded at a cost of Rs 12,223 crore by March 2008. While the first phase consists of six stretches, the second phase consists of 13 stretches. Among the stretches to be awarded, Kishengarh-Udaipur is one of the costliest projects, worth Rs 2,000 crore.

While the average size of contracts has been about 60 km, phase V, which includes six-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral, would have 150 km as the average size of contract. The ministry of shipping, road transport and highways will also set monthly targets for receiving requests for proposal, feasibility reports and approvals from the public-private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC).

“The projects would take 30 months from the date of award, so NHDP-V should be completed by 2010 end,” a government official said. The target for award in 2007-08 is 2,995 km. All projects under the phase would be awarded on build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll basis.

“The response to expression of interest (EoI) for feasibility reports has been encouraging. Private concessionaires will not face traffic risk since there is a guaranteed traffic of more than 20,000 passenger car units (PCU) on the stretches,” the official said.

The government is not expecting delays due to problems in land acquisition, which has adversely affected previous phases of NHDP. “Six-laning of the highways would not face land hurdles, since most of the existing four-lane highways have a carriageway of about 60 km that does not require additional land for construction,” he said.

____________________
India starts rebuilding a historic road to China (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070419/wl_nm/india_china_road_dc_1)

LEDO, India (Reuters) - India has begun rebuilding a 1,700-km (1,000-mile) long road built during World War Two that passes through jungles and mountains and will link the northeast of the country with China via Myanmar.

The Stilwel Road was named after a U.S. general who supervised the construction of the road as a supply route to the Chinese army fighting Japanese occupation in World War Two.

The road has long since fallen into disuse, parts of it disappearing due to lack of maintenance.

People and goods, mainly tea and timber, from northeast India will be able to reach China in two days on the route joining the oil and tea-rich Assam state with western China's Kunming city.

"It will boost the local economy, especially tourism," said Bedanta Gogoi, a local entrepreneur in Dibrugarh, a busy commercial town near the town of Ledo, where the road starts in India.

China has already converted its own stretch of road into a six-lane highway for a distance of about 680 km (420 miles) from Kunming to Myanmar and also helped rebuild much of the road in Myanmar.

India had dragged its feet over rebuilding the road citing security reasons as it passes through thick forest where several rebel groups operate. It is also close to the "Golden Triangle," one of the world's major centers of illegal drug production.

Several families of former Indian soldiers, who had helped build the road more than 60 years back and had settled down by it, will lose their homes during its widening.

pding

April 23rd, 2007, 03:12 AM

report after report says, NHDP is missing targets miserably. it's about time T.R. Baalu quits and some other more able person takes the job. somebody like Kamal Nath will do a much better job. he has done a good job in Trade, Industry, and Commerce. but then, who is there to take up that job?

added later: sorry for the redundancy of "job(s)".

Suncity

April 23rd, 2007, 07:20 AM

Citizens all over India should keep a close watch on this development and if the RTI pressure works on the incompetent and corrupt PWD, then similar pressure should be applied to all government agencies. Even the NHAI is a good candidate for RTIs

IITians take on PWD, to keep eye on quality of Delhi's roads
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IITians_to_keep_eye_on_Delhis_roads/articleshow/1936107.cms

City roads may well be on the path to improvement if a determined bunch of students from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and other technical institutes have their way. The students, who have embarked on a mission to improve the quality of roads in the Capital, have filed applications under Right to Information (RTI) Act to inspect all resurfacing and widening work being undertaken in the city.

The 46 applications cover works on all roads including Outer Ring Road, Ring Road, NH-10, NH-24 and other PWD roads in the Capital. Says IIT student Saurabh Sharma, "Our main aim is to find out why roads develop potholes. The government has been pumping in money to undertake all these works and PWD has made third-party assurance mandatory for road resurfacing. Then why do roads go bad? We have filed 46 such applications seeking information and inspection regarding road works worth Rs 420 crore."

One such application filed by another IIT student, Swati Maliwal, seeking information on tender documents, contractor’s quotes and physical strengthening of Mother Dairy to Madhu Vihar road has already resulted in the first road inspection by students. Says Swati: "Our aim is to develop a system of parallel monitoring by citizens to check corruption and improve the quality of infrastructure works. We took a retired MCD civil engineer with us to check the strengthening work. Some students have been using this road for several months and found that the strengthening work was very slow. But just two days before our inspection, the work picked up pace suddenly."

Under pressure of 46 RTI applications, PWD for the first time told the students that they would be allowed to pick up samples simultaneously with the inspecting authority.

April 23rd, 2007, 05:38 PM

Press Releases from GOI about 10 days old..

INCLUSION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF UP-GRADATION OF 780 KM OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS IN BIHAR UNDER NHDP PHASE III A (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=26838)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for:

(i) Inclusion of 780 km of National Highways in Bihar for upgradation as four lane highways under NHDP Phase-IIIA over and above the approved length of 4035 km under NHDP Phase IIIA on the condition that the procedure for clearance for PPPAC would be followed. With this inclusion, total length of National Highways to be upgraded under NHDP Phase III would be 4815 km.

(ii) Implementation (four laning) of 780 km of National Highways on BOT (Toll) mode at an estimated cost of Rs.6782 crore including cost of land acquisition, utility shifting, rehabilitation and resettlement, consultancy, etc. within the ceiling of 40% of viability gap funding (grant) in accordance with implementation mechanism.

(iii) As some of the sections (such as Mokama-Muker Section of NH-80, Muzzafarpur-Sonbarsa Section of NH-77, Motihari-Raxaul Section of NH-28A and Forbesgenj-Jogbani Section of NH-57A) approved to be taken up on BOT (Toll) have very low traffic volume and probably higher maintenance cost than the toll collected in these sections, it is likely that there will be no response to bids for BOT (Toll) projects. In that event, CCEA gave approval to take up these sections [unviable on BOT (Toll) mode] on BOT (Annuity) mode without any further clearance from CCEA, if no response to the bids on BOT (Toll) is received, after at least two advertisements.

Upgradation of existing road will improve traffic safety and provide faster movement of vehicles with improved riding quality and time. This will lead to reduction in vehicle operating cost and significant reduction in fuel consumption for the vehicle resulting in energy conservation. This will also provide linkage to other corridors of high density / Economic importance / tourism / pilgrimage centers in the state of Bihar.

****
DS/LV
_____________________
______________
INCLUSION OF 8 ADDITIONAL STRETCHES OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS OF LENGTH 996 KM UNDER NHDP PHASE III OVER AND ABOVE EARLIER APPROVED LENGTH OF 11,113 KM

Read On (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=26841)

April 23rd, 2007, 11:45 PM

Last flyover of the Del-Ggn Expressway U/C
Copyright VM2827
http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/1245/47018219728f5a31411oeb2.jpg

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/37/4701656863e893e1c5boce5.jpg

PlaneMad

April 25th, 2007, 07:48 PM

!!PROJECT ALERT!!PROJECT ALERT!!

Whats this eastern peripheral expressway thats apparently u/c around Delhi? Its been designated as NE2. see haryana and up sections at http://morth.nic.in/writereaddata/sublinkimages/NH_Length5919329610.htm

April 25th, 2007, 07:55 PM

NE2 = KMP expressway[Western Peripheral Expressway] + Eastern Peripheral Expressway. Work on KMP expressway began last year and is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2009.

Pics of construction can be found on the page before this one..

arijeetb

April 25th, 2007, 08:37 PM

superdesi2100

April 25th, 2007, 08:46 PM

http://www.nhai.org/Nsew_english.htm

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/7055/a8mwo7.jpg

VKS

April 26th, 2007, 03:10 PM

That map shows that NH-1 between Delhi and Jalandhar has been completed. I know for a fact that's not true.

Euromast

April 26th, 2007, 04:35 PM

That map shows that NH-1 between Delhi and Jalandhar has been completed. I know for a fact that's not true.

Yes, its under implementation, specially around panipat i think.donot know about punjab section:bash:

VKS

April 27th, 2007, 01:29 AM

Yes, its under implementation, specially around panipat i think.donot know about punjab section:bash:

Yes, there is still a lot of work going on between Delhi and Panipat. Kinda strange - you would think they would finish work around the NCR first.

I believe the Punjab section has been completed.

Babji

April 28th, 2007, 08:17 PM

Indian Metros, esp Sothern Metros are competing among themselves in building larger and larger Elevated Expressways. Should they think before planning more such Elevated Highways ...

A thought provoking article ...
The following link is about the WestSide Elevated Highway of NY (past, present and future) ....
http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/FreewaysWestSide.html

http://i16.************/2zrq520.jpg
Post Crad picture of NY West Side Highway

arijeetb

April 28th, 2007, 10:19 PM

pding

April 29th, 2007, 06:01 PM

Hyd desperately needs such elevated highways/expressways, connecting the north to south and the east to west. that is the only way to decongest the roads and reduce the travelling time. the more time they waste thinking about alternate ways, the more the price escalation and more problems for the city. the best solution is to do it as soon as possible.

Naga_Solidus

April 29th, 2007, 07:43 PM

They should do it asap, and indeed elevated routes will be just fine for the suburbs as well as in parts of the main core like Punjagutta etc, however the NH7 and NH9 pass through the old city, where tunnels will be needed due to the large number of heritage structures in the area.

Babji

April 30th, 2007, 04:33 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/29/highway.collapse.ap/index.html
Tanker ignites; Oakland interchange collapses
• Busy interchange collapses after tractor trailer crashes, catches fire
• NEW: Mayor said accident showed fragility of transportation network
• Trailer was hauling 8,600 gallons of gasoline; trucker burned
• Officials say 280,000 commuters take the bridge into San Francisco each day
OAKLAND, California (AP) -- A heavily traveled section of freeway that funnels traffic off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a gasoline tanker truck overturned and erupted into flames, authorities said.

Flames shot 200 feet in the air and the heat was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns...

Authorities said the damage could take months to repair, and that it would cause the worst disruption for Bay Area commuters since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged a section of the Bay Bridge itself. Nearly 75,000 vehicles use the portion of the road every day. But because the accident occured where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause commuting problems for hundreds of thousands of people...

The tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline ignited around 3:45 a.m. after crashing into a pylon on the interchange, which connects westbound lanes of Interstate 80 to southbound I-880, on the edge of downtown Oakland about half a mile from the Bay Bridge's toll plaza.

A preliminary investigation indicated he may have been speeding on the curving road, Cross said...
how safe are our interchanges...
should we have some kind of speed breakers ...

ferrari_fan

April 30th, 2007, 07:02 AM

^^ no, please don't say that!!! our flyovers and interchanges are the only places left where we can drive free from car- (uh, i mean speed-) breakers!!!

:)

Naga_Solidus

April 30th, 2007, 08:21 AM

speed bumps are a bad idea outside parking lots, making them the right size for, say, 50km/h or 100km/h is a challenge, and the end result will be of a negligible size. They are thus not needed.

May 1st, 2007, 02:49 AM

REL to invest Rs 10k cr in road projects by ’08 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/REL_to_invest_Rs_10k_cr_in_road_projects_by_08/articleshow/1977263.cms)

NEW DELHI: After making its foray into road construction in 2006, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Energy (REL) is betting big on the sector. REL will invest over Rs 10,000 crore in road projects by the end of this fiscal.

It has recently bagged projects costing more than Rs 3,000 crore in Tamil Nadu for four laning of about 400 km under the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP).

All five projects in Tamil Nadu, two of which are under implementation and three of which have just been awarded, will be developed on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll model. The projects are expected to be completed by 2010.

“The road sector offers good opportunities, especially in the BOT (toll) segment,” a company official said. REL’s future national highway projects include the 135 km-long eastern peripheral expressway in Delhi at a cost of Rs 2,335 crore, which is one of the costliest road projects in the country.

The six-lane project will connect the Capital with Haryana and UP on the eastern side of Delhi. Under NHDP, the company will also undertake construction of the 180 km stretch between Delhi and Agra at a cost of Rs 1,040 crore and Gurgaon-Jaipur at a cost of Rs 230 crore. Total project cost of REL’s future NHAI projects comprising a total length of 1060 km, is Rs 7,681 crore.

Two projects worth Rs 6500 crore are also in the pipeline. The 150 km-long Jaipur ring road development corridor is estimated at a cost of Rs 3000 crore, while the 12.6 km-long, eight-lane western freeway sea link in Mumbai will be developed by REL at a cost of Rs 3500 crore. The sea link is expected to greatly reduce congestion along the existing north-south-western corridor.

More than Rs 3,000 crore will be invested by the company in state road projects in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. REL has bagged two projects in MP together worth Rs 857 crore. It will also construct the 22 km Bangalore expressway project worth Rs 440 crore and the 30 km-long Bangalore elevated inner ring road worth Rs 1800 crore.

Sridhar

May 1st, 2007, 05:01 AM

In the Okland interchange case, the structure collapsed because of melting of structural elements due to high heat. In India, there are few structures made of steel - most are of reinforced concrete. That is true of road structures like overpasses, flyovers etc. and also of buildings. Hence, the risk factors are different. The risk of structural collapse is there in India as well, but more because of substandard concrete structures, and not because of melting structures due to road accidents.

vadi

May 1st, 2007, 12:55 PM

Bombay Boy

May 1st, 2007, 04:26 PM

i think if india stopped encroachments, illegal parking and jaywalking (better footpaths of course) we would increase road-carrying capacity by at least 2-3 times. but no one wants to do that

invest in public transport. like someone said civilised cities are those where a kid on a tricycle can go where he pleases without danger, not one where someone can drive his car at 120 km/h

VKS

May 1st, 2007, 05:23 PM

Naga_Solidus

May 1st, 2007, 06:29 PM

Sridhar...
But I think the basic question babji has been asking is whether flyovers are the way to go.
I donot want to sound preachy, especially to you coz you must have heard it all, but I think it is worth while to ask the most clichéd questions once more, especially given all the talk about driving school buses at 130 kph amongst the thinking, publishing elite.

How many times will we keep widening the roads?
Do wide roads, elevated highways solve the basic problems? Has anybody solved congestion by widening roads? Why do we need wide roads? In Atlanta, there are >>10 lanes of jam packed highways.

If there is congestion instead of flyovers and road widenings should we instead consider expanding public transit infrastructure.
Everybody knows the answers to these questions. But the focus is so concentrated on roads & cars that pedestrians, 2 wheelers, even the city itself has become secondary. In our average city 42-43% of all traffic fatalities are pedestrians. A staggering 52% are 2- wheelers. A school playground here, a few heritage buildings there naah – wide roads. If the road network had been as 'good' as the footpath network, SSCIndia would have been in revolt.

Fix/restrict road widths, discourage private vehicles, shift attention to public transit, focus on the city & its people.

vadi.
all in the spirit of discussion, no slight or insult meant to anybody.
i am talking of intracity roads & not NH.

Dude, you need to give ppl choices. You don't need to actively discourage car ownership, you only need to provide people with the choice to walk, drive, or use PT. This way, no one system can get overcrowded. IF you depend too much on PT, you get Mumbai-style crush loads. If you depend too much on private cars, you get a situation like in SoCal.

The best solution is this: All non-expwy roads must have 1 bicycle lane on the sidewalk side, all sidewalks must be 5-10ft wide. Children can ride their tricycles on sidewalks, and serious cyclists can use the dedicated bicycle lane (that's how they do things in CA).

In Santa Clara County, California, the road hierarchy is this:

Residential road (25mph/40km/h)
Minor arterial (30-35mph/48-56km/h)
Arterial (40-45mph/64-72km/h)
Expressway (50mph/80km/h)
Freeway (65mph/105km/h)

All of them but the last allow bicycles, and all except the latter two allow pedestrians (though some expressways do have sidewalks, they don't have them all the way through, so on some parts pedestrians are allowed and on some they aren't). Bicycles on SC County expressways MUST use the shoulder, and on all other roads there is a dedicated bicycle lane next to the sidewalk. This allows increased motor traffic speed and increased bicycle safety.

NOTE: In Santa Clara County, the term "expressway" is used to mean a type of superarterial road that has a mixture of grade-seperated junctions and at-grade intersections, but does not have direct driveway access.

And then there is the example of Germany. It has THE BEST road transport system (as I've explained many times, they don't have speed limits, but their road traffic fatality rate is significantly lower than the USA and a number of their EU neighbors), as well as an excellent HSR network (the indiginously-developed ICE system), and a large number of pedestrian areas. I don't know if they have dedicated bicycle lanes on surface streets though.

In short, private vehicles are inevitable, pedestrians are inevitable, and HPVs are inevitable. Give 'em all equal space and they'll all be happy.

And to the anti-flyover guy: once a city goes beyond a certain population level, its major intersections will get much more vehicular throughput than they can handle at-grade, at which point grade-seperation is necessary. It is an integral part of any multi-faceted, multiple-choice transport network.

May 6th, 2007, 02:24 AM

Rs 3,035-cr Punjab road projects approved (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070505/main2.htm)

[quotes]
New Delhi, May 4
Decks were cleared today for Rs 3035-crore Inter-city transit projects comprising a network of four and six-lanned expressways in Punjab.

The Centre gave clearance to the expeditious completion of the six-lanned expressway to link Chandigarh with Ludhiana and four-lanned highways for Ludhiana-Moga-Ferozepore and Chandigarh -Ropar-Kiratpur Sahib segments.

In addition, the Centre gave a commitment to “actively pursue” the four-lanned highway project for the Chandigarh-Patiala-Sangrur-Bathinda route.

All these road projects would be completed in the mode of national highways and would completely transform inter-city transport in the state.

These decisions were taken at a high-level meeting between union minister of shipping, road transport and national highways T.R. Baalu and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here.

Besides super-expressways, the Centre also agreed to expedite the completion of 16 railway over bridges to decongest traffic in the state.

Baalu permitted the state government to execute construction work of four lanning of the Desumajra-Kurali (17 km) stretch at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore. The funds for this project would be provided by the ministry.

Similarly, the union minister also directed the national highway authority of India (NHAI) to complete the four-lanning of the 20 km-stretch from the Bidhipur railway station, Jalandhar, to Dhilwan on national highway-1 (Jalandhar-Amritsar) on a priority basis.

The Chief Minister urged the union minister to accord administrative and financial approval for the construction of Damoria railway overbridge at Jalandhar to honour the commitment of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

He said the Rs 26.11-crore project was sanctioned in 2001 cost of which was to be shared by the ministry (Rs 20.78 crore) and the Railways (5.33 crore). The ministry had not released any amount whereas the Railways had released only Rs 2 crore for the project.

The Chief Minister requested Baalu to immediately release the committed amount of Rs 20.78 crore for the project that was likely to be completed by June, 2007.

The Centre also agreed to extend the Ludhiana-Moga-Talwandi Bhai national highway project by an additional 25 km to take it up to Ferozepore.

The union minister informed the Chief Minister that the detailed project report had been completed and the work was likely to be commissioned by October 2007. He said the survey on the four-lanning of the Chandigarh-Patiala-Sangrur-Bathinda (209 km) project would be carried out.

Meanwhile, Punjab may get an additional Rs 100 crore for 2007-08 to boost rural education.

A spokesman for the Punjab government said here today that the issue was raised by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his meeting with deputy chairman, planning commission of India Montek Singh Ahluwalia here.

Ahluwalia “responded positively” to the proposal and said new school infrastructure should be based on partial subsidisation pattern./quote]

discostu

May 15th, 2007, 10:54 AM

Govt okays seven NHDP projects worth Rs 6,000 cr

PRIYANKA TALWAR
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, MAY 14, 2007 12:33:54 AM]

NEW DELHI: The government has cleared seven highway projects worth Rs 6,000 crore under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). These are the first set to be cleared under phase-V of the NHDP, which involves six-laning of 6,500 km of national highways, including the Golden Quadrilateral.

The projects okayed include six-laning of Surat-Dahesar, Panipat-Jallandhar, Chennai-Tada and Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur. With an average length of 150 km, the stretches would be developed on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll model, for which the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will now start inviting bids.

The road schemes were approved by the public-private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC) on Friday. This phase covers development of corridors or sections with high traffic density, which are otherwise important economically or from tourism point of view.

These corridors have already been four-laned under the first phase of the NHDP, and will be six-laned under the fifth phase. The government is expecting most projects to be awarded on negative grant. NHDP-V is expected to be completed by 2010.

The ministry of shipping, road transport and highways will set monthly target for receiving requests for proposal, feasibility reports and approvals from the PPP-AC to ensure timely completion of the road work. For NHDP-V, the government will first award 1,067 km by July 2007 at a cost of Rs 7,425 crore. In the second phase, 1,928 km will be awarded at a cost of Rs 12,223 crore by March 2008.

Source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/Govt_okays_seven_NHDP_projects_worth_Rs_6000_cr/articleshow/2041861.cms)

discostu

May 17th, 2007, 09:22 AM

The loop connecting the expressway to the IGI airport will be opened for traffic by July-end followed by opening of one side of the Rao Tula Ram marg flyover by early August.

These two sections are all that is left for completion of the much-delayed 27.7-km-long Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. Eight of the nine flyovers have already been opened along the expressway.
While the IGI loop will be 350-m-long and two-lane wide, the Rao Tula Ram-Palam flyover will be 1.8-km-long.

Source (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=236686)

June 5th, 2007, 05:07 AM

Cabinet nod for Bangalore Peripheral Ring Road
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bangalore/Cabinet_nod_for_Ring_Road/articleshow/2098381.cms)
BANGALORE: The state cabinet on Monday approved execution of the Rs 400-crore Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) connecting eight satellite towns — Doddaballapur, Anekal, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Kanakapura, Ramanagaram, Magadi and Dobbespet. Work on the project is likely to start shortly and will be executed in four packages covering the outskirts, and will involve a Ring Road network of 364 km with 90-foot-wide eight-lane roads.

Home minister M P Prakash said an Intermediate Ring Road will connect Bangalore International Airport in Devanahalli to all satellite towns.

vlakshmi_n

June 6th, 2007, 06:02 PM

Centre to take up 250-km ring road project

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun62007/state200706065941.asp?section=updatenews

Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu has sought a detailed report on the project to be executed on a build-operate-transfer basis at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

Responding positively to Karnataka's request, the Centre on Wednesday decided to take up a 250 -km ring road project around this city to ease traffic congestion.

"I have ordered to compile a detailed project report on the project to be executed on a build-operate-transfer basis at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore," Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu told reporters here after a meeting with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and officials from the state government and National Highways Authority of India.

The Karnataka government has been asked to make available land as early as possible to enable the Union ministry to seek the Union cabinet's approval for the project, Baalu said.

As roads in Bangalore have been saturated, there was no option other than taking up Metro planning by the state government to ease traffic congestion, he suggested.

Baalu said he has consented to a demand by the state for providing certain facilities like service roads and overpasses and underpasses on the road linking the new Bangalore international airport and the Union road transport ministry will prepare a project report soon.

He made it clear that work on roads linking the airport was unlikely to take off at an early date as this needed some time to complete required formalities.

The first ever greenfield airport coming up as a joint venture at Devanahally will become operational in April next year. Karnataka has plans to have a dedicated six-lane road from the city to the airport.

vlakshmi_n

June 6th, 2007, 06:04 PM

New link roads planned for international airport

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun62007/state200706055862.asp

The government will provide new link roads to the Bangalore International Airport coming up near Devanahalli from different points of the city, apart from upgrading the existing roads and constructing an expressway, State Chief Secretary Pra-hlad B Mahishi said on Tuesday.

He, however, refused to disclose the alignments of new link roads stating that disclosure of alignment and plans would result in unnecessary hike in land prices around the areas.

In an informal chat with the reporters, Mahishi said the six-lane national highway connecting Bangalore-Hyderabad is sufficient to reach the airport for the time being.

He also said the problem over construction of an interchange to provide link from the NH to the airport will be solved and the road will ready before the airport becomes operational in April 2008.

While the upgradation of existing approach roads are already going on, the work on expressway and other proposed new roads would be completed in about an year later, he added.

To a query, Mahishi said the suggestion of the Union government over design of the airport building would be discussed during the board meeting of the Bangalore International Airport Limited scheduled for June 22.
He also indicated that some changes in the interior design of the building would be considered, as suggested by the Centre, during the meeting. Referring to Centre’s observation the building design “looks like a factory,” he pointed out that the pillars of the building are designed in such a away that it provides place for all utilities like electricity, water, air conditioning, etc.

vlakshmi_n

June 7th, 2007, 04:02 PM

Acquire land for IRR project, govt told

DH News Service, Bangalore:

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu said NHAI would take up a Detailed Project Report (DPR), to be moved later for Cabinet approval.

Ground work on the proposed 250-km Intermediate Ring Road (IRR) around Bangalore is set to roll with the Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways asking the state government to go ahead with land acquisition for the project.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting to review National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) projects in the state, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu said NHAI would take up a Detailed Project Report (DPR), to be moved later for Cabinet approval.

The land acquisition itself is estimated to cost between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 3,000 crore, he added.
“The ring road will bring relief to the City that’s already reeling under heavy traffic. The project will be taken up under the third phase of the NHDP (National Highways Development Project),” the minister said.

The review meeting was attended by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Public Works Minister H D Revanna, Union Minister of State for Road Transport K H Muniyappa and senior bureaucrats.

The IRR will start at Nelamangala and pass through Dobbaspet, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli (aro-und four to five kilometres off the upcoming airport), Hoskote, Anekal, Harohalli, Bidadi, Magadi and back to Nelamangala.

International airport
Replying to questions on connectivity between the City and the upcoming international airport at Devanahalli, Baalu said the state government had requested for underpasses, overpasses and service roads.
Seven locations have also been identified under the plan — Devanahalli By-pass end, NH 7/NH 207 Junction, Betahalasuru, Vidyanagar, Yelahanka By-pass (beginning and end) and Kodigehalli. The projects will be taken up under NHDP Phase 7.

When pointed out that the DPR itself would take close to a year (the airport is scheduled to open on April 2, 2008), he said there was no alternative but to wait.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun72007/state200706066023.asp

June 8th, 2007, 03:11 AM

U/C expressway between Ghaziabad and Noida in UP - I had no idea about this.

From HT

Length -25kms
Starts from the Gr.Noida-Noida Expressway
130 Meters wide with 30 meter wide service lanes
Cost:100 crores
Deadline: Dec 2008

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/421/ghaziabadnoidanc5.jpg

Naga_Solidus

June 8th, 2007, 04:04 AM

How come it hasn't gotten any news coverage until now?

And btw, if the frontage roads will be 30m wide, does that mean they will be 10-lane frontage roads (with 6m medians), assuming 3m/lane?

And is it different from the Eastern Peripheral Expwy?

Suncity

June 8th, 2007, 04:11 AM

^^

Is that part of the proposed Faridabad - Noida - Ghaziabad Expressway?

June 8th, 2007, 04:16 AM

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway has been divided into 2 sections - Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad(56km) and Ghaziabad-Kundli (49 km) according to this plan (http://ncrup.up.nic.in/ncrpb/rp2021.htm)

This very well could be part of the eastern peripheral expressway but then there the HT article doens't mention its name[EPE] which would have definitely been used if it was part of the EPE

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3616/08062007757019xq7.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=08062007757019xq7.jpg)

How come it hasn't gotten any news coverage until now?

And btw, if the frontage roads will be 30m wide, does that mean they will be 10-lane frontage roads (with 6m medians), assuming 3m/lane?

And is it different from the Eastern Peripheral Expwy?

Babji

June 10th, 2007, 04:06 PM

HAL airport: the last-ditch effort.
... The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has responded to the State’s concerns and is lining up overpasses and service roads on NH 7....
Thanks to BIAL and GoKA. NHAI is learning some lessons on how to build National Highways at last.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun102007/national200706106670.asp?section=frontpagenews

vlakshmi_n

June 12th, 2007, 01:02 AM

Highway speed may be capped at 50 kph.

NEW DELHI: With the number of road accidents rising and more and more thrill-seekers and Bollywood-inspired daredevils hitting the road, the government has decided to slam the brakes.

It may now act on a report that has recommended a speed limit of 50 kph for national highways and 80 kph for expressways. A committee to review speed limits is expected to submit its final recommendations in a week's time. At present, the Centre has not prescribed speed limits for national highways.

"The committee has looked at several factors such as improvement in quality of roads and vehicles and increasing number of national highways that have been added to the country in recent times," a senior official said.

The road network in India is 33 lakh km which includes 200 km of expressways and 66,590 km of national highways. Motor vehicles have been increasing at a pace of 10.16% per annum for the past five years but there has been a simultaneous increase in number of road accidents and fatalities as well.

According to official estimates, the number of accidents from over-speeding on roads (including national, state highways, rural roads) have increased from 1,74,247 in 2003 to 2,10,069 in 2005.

The number of people killed has increased from 37,451 in 2003 to 44,346 in 2005. The committee, set up in April, was tasked with reviewing the notification of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.

The Act specifies a maximum speed limit for two-wheeler traffic at 50 kph and for commercial vehicles at 65 kph. State governments are empowered to fix speed limits on state highways and state roads but only if the speed is less than that prescribed under the Act. So far, there were no speed limits established for national highways and state highways.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Highway_speed_may_be_capped/articleshow/2116383.cms

Naga_Solidus

June 12th, 2007, 04:14 AM

That is really, really unreasonable and imprudent, considering the design of India's roads. The divided non-expressway NHs are fine with their current speed limits, and the 80km/h limit is better suited as a minimum speed limit on expressways, esp. when u consider that most Indian expressways have exit spacing that are quite large (30km on the AMD-Baroda expwy).

I've already posted my views on this in the Speed Limit Thread in Chaibar, and IMO, it should be moved from there to Infra & Economy so that India's netas can see and read our views on the issue here.

vlakshmi_n

June 12th, 2007, 11:02 PM

Karnataka Govt sets ball rolling for satellite towns ring roads

The State government has issued an order formalising the development of Satellite Towns Ring Road (STRR) connecting the satellite towns of Doddaballapura, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Anekal, Kanakapura, Ramanagaram and Magadi and to the upcoming international airport in Devanahalli.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) Chairman Sudhir Krishna said preparation of the techno-economic feasibility report is on. The land acquisition for roads and related expenditure will run up to Rs 400 crore. Roads will be taken up in a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model.
The STRR alignment will include town ring roads for the seven towns. The roads will be developed in four packages (see box) on around 365 km. Krishna said around 2,600 acres of land would be acquired for the roads. Though the roads will be tolled, users will also have the option of using non-tolled sections.
The BMRDA chairman also dismissed charges that the alignment of the proposed expressway connecting Outer Ring Road to Devanahalli has been changed.
“There is a misunderstanding, due to the imperfection in revenue maps that haven’t been updated for 40-odd years. A difference of one mm in the map can be around 100 metres on ground. In such cases, the survey number itself could turn out to be different,” he reasoned.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun132007/city200706137168.asp

cncity

June 13th, 2007, 01:53 AM

Ring road for Pune and Pimpri: CM

Express News Service

Pune, June 12: CHIEF Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has suggested a ring road to solve the traffic problems in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. In a meeting on Tuesday, district guardian minister Ajit Pawar said the ring road should be 120-meter wide with service roads. The land for the road would be acquired by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).

Public Works Department officials said the road would cost Rs 600 crore and should be a Build-Operate-Transfer project. Divisional Commissioner Nitin Kareer said private developers had built such roads in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Deshmukh then directed officials to send a proposal to the State government.

In another development, the Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) would also be permitted to hire 162 Euro III buses from private contractors.

The problems in the development plan (DP) of the 23 fringe villages merged in the municipal limits, would be solved within a month, Deshmukh added.

Municipal commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi demanded that the rule which says that 70 per cent of the slum dwellers should give their consent in a slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) scheme should not be mandatory as they were being rehabilitated on government land.

PMC also put forth demands like allowing buildings up to a height of 100 meters in municipal limits, changes in the DP to develop the reservations in gaothan areas, discount in property tax to those who paid in advance and granting an FSI of two to settlements of the flood affected.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=240875

vlakshmi_n

June 14th, 2007, 04:22 PM

Expedite expressway work, CM to Huda.

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Wednesday directed Huda to expedite work on the P V Narasimha Rao Expressway so as to complete the project by the time the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is ready in March 2008.

He asked the officials to ensure that road connectivity works were completed in time so that passengers could reach it in 30 minutes.

Reviewing the status of airport connectivity and ORR works, traffic management on important corridors, widening of inner ring road, radial roads, the CM directed the officials to complete the first phase work on the 5.1-km elevated expressway from Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital to Hyderguda by February 2008. Six-laning of the road from Hyderguda to Aramgarh junction should also be completed before March 2008.

Shamshabad, Reddy said, was going to be the nerve centre of economic and industrial activity and directed the officials to look into alternative measures to ease traffic congestion on the internal ring roads.

The officials identified important road corridors like Banjara Hills Road No.1, Lakdi-ka-pool to Masab Tank, Sanathnagar to S R Nagar, Ameerpet to Punjagutta among others for easing congestion.

Officials of the police department told the chief minister that they would soon present a plan for smooth traffic management using modern signal technology.

The police officials sought the intervention of the chief ministers office to ensure that no further malls were allowed on Road No.1, Banjara Hills, so as to avoid future traffic congestion. They also sought the government approval to ensure that no parking of vehicles was allowed on Road No.1.

The existing road from Banjara Hills to Masab Tank will be widened to 100-feet to help ease traffic congestion. It was also proposed to have separate private bus terminals between the internal ring road and ORR. Huda was told to expedite issuing orders for creating truck terminals at eight locations.

The officials, however, said the construction of the expressway would be completed by October, 2008. The main reason for the possible delay is attributed to the shortage of skilled labour and the clearance for the construction of underpass and trumpet interchange works from the NHAI. However, they said the first phase work was going apace.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Expedite_expressway_work_CM/articleshow/2121393.cms

vlakshmi_n

June 15th, 2007, 05:00 AM

Sword hangs over BMIC as Government contemplates annulling agreement.
The Karnataka Government is likely to nullify the contract with the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), which is implementing the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway Project. Any decision of the Government will, however, be subject to the directions of the Supreme Court before which there are several petitions pertaining to the subject....

Full details
http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/15/stories/2007061510950100.htm

vlakshmi_n

June 15th, 2007, 05:10 AM

This is not a good news abt BMIC project, but no idea why the former PM and the CM are behind this project...
SC save the project if the allegations are not true.

Nelaturi

June 15th, 2007, 12:10 PM

Gowda hates the guts of Ashok Kheny, MD of BMIC project and he's hell bent on seeing that it is scuttled. HDK, initially, was neutral but it appears as if he is toeing his dad's line now.
The SC has condemned the attitude of Karnatak Govt in no uncertain terms. yet, these shameless politicians are trying their best to ruin a great infrastructure project. The SC should come down hard on the govt and some one should file PIL against the govt for wilfully going against the project and also defying the SC rulings and directions...contempt of court...

Suncity

June 15th, 2007, 03:46 PM

The sudden discovery of files is interesting. I wonder how many files that may expose Gowda and Co have been "suppressed" .

sidney_jec

June 15th, 2007, 04:24 PM

^^

Is that part of the proposed Faridabad - Noida - Ghaziabad Expressway?

Faridabad aint that direction Sun..It may or rather is the part of the upcoming Taj E'way connecting Delhi to Agra. The Noida Greater Noida section is already complete and news about the construction for the rest of the part came just after Bahan Mayawati came to power. Anws its good to see the project finally taking off :)

vlakshmi_n

June 17th, 2007, 04:50 AM

IT corridor at Mysore-Magadi road.

BANGALORE: IT majors crying for space in Bangalore can say cheers: a 1,000-acre dedicated hi-tech corridor has been proposed between Magadi Road and Mysore Road for clean industries in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP).
The corridor will be 17-29 km from the city centre and will house IT and IT-enabled service industries. This will ease the pressure on Whitefield and Electronic City areas, where the IT industries are concentrated.
The corridor was proposed and integrated with the Master Plan 2015 prepared by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). It was approved by the state cabinet on Friday. The government has asked the BDA to fast-track this corridor. BDA commissioner M K Shankerlinge Gowda told Sunday Times of India that the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board will be asked to start land-acquisition process by next week as BDA is to receive revised CDP from the government by then.
The corridor will have tall glass-andsteel skyscrapers, with the CDP allowing vertical growth in this zone. The floor area ratio has been doubled to four now.
The additional FAR has been granted as the minimum width of roads stipulated here is 100 ft. "The proposal is to set up 10 integrated townships of 100 acres each with international-standard amenities.
They will be developed through a global tendering process. Ten top-of-the-line developers will be short-listed. The concept is plug-and-play for offices, Gowda said.
The BDA doesn’t foresee any land acquisition issues as the corridor area has been marked clean-industry zone. The BDA will share developed land with landowners here. "It’ll be on 60:40 ratio, and land owners will gain," Gowda said.
The corridor has all the prerequisites to become an instant hit, say industry pundits.Water, infrastructure and space availability have been addressed at the proposal stage. Dearth of water and infrastructure issues raised by IT industry captains in Whitefield and Electronic City belts have been addressed here.
The Master Plan has drawn up a connectivity network. The existing Bangalore-Mysore four-lane road, Mysore-Bangalore double-track, monorail connectivity, Peripheral Ring Road, Satellite Town Ring Road, BMICP road and NHAI’s proposed Intermediate Ring Road will ensure smooth movement of traffic.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/IT_corridor_at_Mysore-Magadi_road/articleshow/2128495.cms

June 18th, 2007, 11:46 PM

Phase V of NHDP takes off (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=288089&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

The Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has kickstarted the Rs 41,000 crore phase V of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP).

It recently approved five stretches falling under the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) for six-laning. Phase V of NHDP envisages six laning of 6,500 km of already four-laned national highways.

The stretches that have been approved by the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) of the ministry, are Surat-Dahisar 239 km stretch on NH-8, Panipat-Jalandhar stretch (291 km) on NH-1, Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur stretch (200 km) on NH-8, Chikaluripet-Vijaywada stretch (90 km) on NH-5, and a 43 km Chennai-Tada stretch on NH-5. The estimated cost of these five stretches is around Rs 5,200 crore.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials say that these projects would be put up for bidding soon. As the tolling operations on these are being handled by the Authority itself , therefore fresh bidding would be done.

"Though already four-laned highways are being six-laned under phase V, these stretches would be treated as new projects and the cost of four laning won’t be considered. As land would have to be acquired afresh, flyovers, underpasses, and approach roads would have to be constructed, therefore these would be completely new projects," said an NHAI official.

June 19th, 2007, 02:13 AM

Kundli Manesar Palwal Expressway

Part ek
QlUzdD0lAGI

Part Do
98s0T_-nMGk

The idiot who made the video screwed NE India on the map[9:32(counting down)]

vlakshmi_n

June 19th, 2007, 11:02 PM

4 New underpasses for Bangalore Outer Ring road.

BANGALORE: To ease traffic congestions at some intersections on the Outer Ring Road in the city, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has proposed to construct four underpasses at a total cost of Rs 104. 38 crore.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy laid the foundation stone for these facilities on Tuesday.

Locations: The underpasses, to come up at Kadirenahalli, Puttenahalli, Hennur-Banaswadi and Prof. C.N.R. Rao Circle on the Ring Road, are aimed at decongesting the intersections and ensuring uninterrupted flow of traffic along the Ring Road.

Time-frame: The officials plan to complete work within 10 months, including the monsoon months.
The underpass at Puttenahalli intersection, connecting Bannergahatta Road and Kanakapura Road, will be built at a cost of Rs 22.87 crore. This will be a typical four-lane facility with a length of 465.66 metres, an official said.
The Kadirenahalli underpass (387.81 metres) will be built at a cost of Rs 28.88 crore, the official said.
Identified as one of the most important and busiest junctions on Ring Road, a heavy flow of commercial traffic passes through this intersection to join the National Highway.
It will be a four-lane facility with the up-ramp and down-ramp connecting residential extensions of Banashankari, Uttarahalli, Kadirenahalli and other areas, the official said.
While the Hennur-Banaswadi underpass (537.74 metres) will come up at a cost of Rs. 25.49 crore, a similar facility at Prof C.N.R. Rao Circle (329.05 metres) will be built at a cost of Rs 27.14 crore.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun202007/scroll200706208432.asp?section=frontpagenews

http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/19/stories/2007061960790300.htm

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jun202007/city200706208447.asp

vlakshmi_n

June 19th, 2007, 11:16 PM

Staff shortage, low morale makes BRO hit a roadblock

The pace of construction of strategic road links close to China and Pakistan borders as well setting up of roads in the Naxal-affected regions of Central India has taken a beating over the last few years as the border roads organisation is suffering from a massive staff shortage.
This fact was revealed at a review meeting here on Tuesday as BRO director general Lt Gen K S Rao and 14 chief engineers explained to the minister of state for defence M M Pallum Raju that the staff shortage was crippling key projects. “The vacancies are affecting the probable date of completion,” said Lt Gen Rao.
Set up in 1960, the BRO currently works in 13 different projects, each headed by a chief engineer, for road construction in border areas in the Himalayas, the North-East and the desert regions. Recently it has been asked by the Government to create better road connectivity near the China-border particularly in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control.
The organisation is also constructing roads in Afghanistan, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Myanmar and areas in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Sources in the Defence Ministry told Deccan Herald that despite being the main agency responsible for creating these roads, the BRO was short of at least 10,000 staffers.
Also the morale of the engineering cadres in the BRO is low due to poor career avenues. Those belonging to the general reserve engineering force (GREF) cadre in the BRO get a raw deal. Recruited by the UPSC, the assistant executive engineers of BRO get their first promotion after 20 years, sources said.
On the other hand, the army engineers get their regular time-bound promotions thereby creating heartburn in the organisation. Maybe it was this heartburn, that compelled B B Lal, chief of Hirak project to issue an order two months back claiming the rank of a regular army major general for himself. Under Project Hirak, roads are being constructed in the Naxalite zone of Central India. Strict action against Mr Lal seems to be unlikely to be taken as the minister has instructed the army and the GREF engineers to have “mutual respect” for each other and solve the issue amicably.

superdesi2100

June 21st, 2007, 11:48 PM

I will never be able to understand Marxists! This is utter stupidity... :bash:

Kerala sticks to no-toll stance, PM to intervene

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon meet Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan in a bid to break the impasse over toll collection along 700 km of roads in the state. The issue was brought up by Union minister T R Baalu at a meeting of the Committee of Infrastructure held last week.

As first reported by The Indian Express, the CPI(M)-led Government in the state had put the Centre in a spot by refusing to sign the state support agreement for about 700 km of road projects under the NHDP-III (National Highways Development Project-III), saying it cannot permit collection of toll on these highways. Instead, it demanded special exemption for Kerala, setting the stage for another confrontation between the UPA and its Left allies. While clearing the NHDP-III projects, the Cabinet had made it clear that these would be built on a BOT (toll) basis. Only a few roads in the Northeast and in other remote areas of the country fall in this bracket.

“The key aspect is charging toll on highways. The people do not support it. So we are talking with the Government to see what can be done. We are against charging toll,” Kerala Chief Secretary Lizzie Jacob told The Indian Express. She added that Kerala currently collects tolls only on bridges.

Meanwhile, Achuthanandan is believed to have conveyed the same message to Minister of Road, Transport and Highways Baalu at a review meeting in Thiruvananthapuram last month.

Under the rules laid out for NHDP-III projects, modes other than BOT are to be considered only if the capacity of the road is 15,000 PCU (passenger car units) or below.

The capacity of the 664 km of roads to be four-laned along the Kerala coast, mainly NH-47 and NH-17, is well above 20,000 PCUs.

In its objection to toll collection, Kerala virtually stands alone. All other states, including West Bengal, have accepted the model.

In fact, there is pressure from some like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab to take up four-laning of more roads under the NHDP. Suggestions have been made that while Kerala makes up its mind, funds kept aside for its projects be diverted to other, more willing states.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/128124.html

June 22nd, 2007, 12:02 AM

GREAT! So kerela won't get any new roads. Commie states don't need luxurious things like roads anyway. They can always walk or ride a bicycle.

June 22nd, 2007, 02:19 AM

Allahabad bypass U/C - 80kms in length- has a 1km long bridge included.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/1430/allahbyvq8.jpg
source:NHAI's magazine

Naga_Solidus

June 22nd, 2007, 07:12 AM

GREAT! So kerela won't get any new roads. Commie states don't need luxurious things like roads anyway. They can always walk or ride a bicycle.

Commies dont know what they're missing.

@indiansunite: is the allahabad bypass going to be totally grad-seperated, or will it have at-grade intersections? Also, if it's going to be totally grade-seperated, what will the exit spacing be?

June 22nd, 2007, 08:03 AM

^^
Its an access controlled 4 lane highway that bypasses Allahabad from the northern side.

Some facts-
It includes the provision of 125 km long Service Roads, 1013m long Bridge over Ganga River with Superstructures in segments and Substructure in Well foundations, 5 Interchanges, 4 Road Over Rail Bridges (ROBs), 8 Overpasses (all structures resting on Pile Foundations), 32 Underpasses, 17 Pedestrian Crossings, 2 Nos 16-lane Toll Plazas, 1 Rest Area (either side).
Source
(http://www.icondirect.net/published/300024.php)

5 interchanges,but no word on exits as such from any site that shows up on google.

Naga_Solidus

June 22nd, 2007, 08:49 AM

5 interchanges = 5 exits. They say it's access controlled, and considering that most indian expressways have long distances between their interchanges, one can infer an average exit spacing of 20km. I guess we have another potential derestricted zone here.

June 22nd, 2007, 09:01 AM

5 interchanges = 5 exits.

Besides the interchange exits, there may be other exits which have no interchanges is what I meant. Anyways, according to NHAI,in march the bridge was 90% complete while the road 50%.

June 24th, 2007, 11:48 PM

Some Highways constructed/Under Construction by GMR- all on BOT basis -

NH45 Tambaram-Tindivanam stretch in Tamil Nadu - 93kms Constructed

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4917/nh45mapmi9.png

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5677/picroadsprojectsyh6.jpghttp://img378.imageshack.us/img378/722/roadstindivanampv4.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5439/nh45baz6.jpg

_______________

NH5 - Tuni-Anakapalle stretch in Andhra Pradesh - 60kms Constructed

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/5439/tuniroaduk0.jpg

_______________

NH22/21 - Ambala-Chandigarh in Punjab - 35kms U/C
The plan is to convert the existing 2 laned highway to 4 lanes and build 21kms of service roads on each side.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4310/picroadsambala2cc2.jpg

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/277/roadsambalarv6.jpg

________________

NH7- Adloor-Pochanpalli stretch [North of Hyd] in Andhra Pradesh- 107kms U/C
The plan is to convert the existing 2 laned highway to 4 lanes

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8089/roadspochanpalliob9.jpg

_________________

NH7- Thondapalli-Jadcherla stretch [South of HYD] in Andhra Pradesh - 58kms U/C
The plan is to convert the existing 2 laned highway to 4 lanes

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1562/roadsjadcherlamj8.jpg

_________________

NH45 - Tindivanam-Ulundurpet stretch in Tamil Nadu - 71kms U/C
The plan is to convert the existing 2 laned highway to 4 lanes

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8509/roadsulunderpetck2.jpg

June 28th, 2007, 03:18 AM

Private players queue up for public sector NHAI’s projects

NHDP PHASE-V: L&T, Deutsche Bank, Reliance Energy, AES Corp interested

National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) decision to open up large stretches of highways to private participation has received a warm toast from industry. The eight road stretches up for bidding under Phase-V of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) — most of which are over 200 km in length — have received 180 requests for qualification (RFQs) from both Indian and international players.

The response, say NHAI officials, has been excellent, despite the fact that large road projects have never been undertaken privately in the country yet. “Each of these projects has received an average of at least 20 RFQs (a pre-bidding proposal of interest) and every company has shown an interest in all the road stretches on offer,” said a senior NHAI official. The projects up for bidding involve widening of select existing four-lane highways into six-laned ones. These include construction of the 225 km long Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur stretch of NH-8 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,517 crore and the ambitious 290 km Panipat-Jalandhar highway, which would cost approximately Rs 2,200 crore. The 240 km Surat-Dahisar highway connecting Gujarat and Maharashtra is another stretch that has invited RFQs from many parties.
Read On (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/202750.html)

_________
Toll plaza plan ready for Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway

THE National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is ready with its toll plaza plan for the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. According to the draft prepared by the NHAI, there will be three toll gates at key points on the route and different rates for six major categories of vehicles.

The NHAI has also finished drafting the layout of the three toll gates. Officials said the first gate will be at the IGI Airport point, the second at the Delhi-Gurgaon border and the third at Khirki, near Haldiram’s Resort, the point where the expressway ends in Gurgaon.

Vehicles, under the toll plan, have been classified into six broad categories — cars, light commercial vehicles, mini-buses, buses, heavy vehicles and trucks, with the rates increasing with each category. Buses, heavy vehicles and trucks will pay the highest toll charges, while the rates for IGI-bound vehicles will be the lowest. The rates at Khirki will be the highest
Read On (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=243221)

Babji

June 29th, 2007, 01:37 AM

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/29/stories/2007062953540500.htm
Number of highway accidents drops
Sangareddy: While the number of fatal accidents on the three major highways of Medak district has come down in the recent months, the number surprisingly increased on the arterial and rural roads. There were 468 accidents on these arterial roads taking the lives of 166 during the first five months of 2007. The total number of persons injured in these roads was 991. On the other hand 40 people were killed in 95 accidents on NH 7, 98 in 200 accidents on NH 9 and 44 in 111 accidents on Rajiv Rahadari. Over 683 people were injured in these accidents.

Speaking to The Hindu, Medak Superintendent of Police R.B. Nayak said that the number of accidents on highways had drastically come down except in the month of May due to partial completion of road widening, especially NH 9. The SP said that the spurt in the month of May could be attributed to the seasonal rush owing to festivities, jataras and marriages in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra borders. He said that a majority of accidents, particularly in the rural areas, occurred due to rash and negligent driving.

The Medak highway patrol, which is equipped with eight patrolling vehicles manning every 30-km stretch on highways, finds the vehicles from other states elusive because of ineligible registration numbers.
While a majority of the vehicles arrive from Gujarat, Madhyapradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, many do not sport number plates in the rear end. Some also display number plates in their local language, making it impossible for the patrolling officers to note down the number.
These (language related) problems could be common for traffic cops all over the country.
why can't GoI establish a national RTA coordination committee and come up with uniform code/rule book for the state level RTAs...

Tron

June 29th, 2007, 03:00 AM

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/29/stories/2007062953540500.htm

These (language related) problems could be common for traffic cops all over the country.
why can't GoI establish a national RTA coordination committee and come up with uniform code/rule book for the state level RTAs...
That's true. They should legislate so that there is a national traffic code. If the vehicles do not follow them, they should be prohibited from crossing state borders.

July 1st, 2007, 06:20 AM

Anti-skid road to roll out in Gujarat (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Anti-skid_road_to_roll_out_in_Gujarat/articleshow/2162700.cms)
It doesn't make for a gripping tale, but motorists across the nation who have to live with the terror of skidding on roads, come monsoon, will be very interested. All new roads across India will soon be coated with rubber to prevent slip-sliding, and the process is beginning in Gujarat.

With an eye on increasing the life of roads and securing speeding vehicles from skidding on the highways, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to use Crumbed Rubber Modified Bitumen (CRMB) to plaster the Sardar Patel ring road or the ‘outer ring road' bordering Ahmedabad.

The process will be extended to stretches of the Golden Quadrilateral, a grid of highways criss-crossing India through its length and breadth.

Experts say Crumbed Rubber Modified Bitumen acts as a better adhesive and binder, reducing chances of potholes and increasing elasticity.

arijeetb

July 1st, 2007, 08:37 AM

NH45 - Tindivanam-Ulundurpet stretch in Tamil Nadu - 71kms U/C
The plan is to convert the existing 2 laned highway to 4 lanes

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8509/roadsulunderpetck2.jpg
[/list][/QUOTE]

^^ Nice updates to the NHAI projects...the above looks more like 6 lane than 4 ..i would think

July 1st, 2007, 09:59 AM

^^ Nice updates to the NHAI projects...the above looks more like 6 lane than 4 ..i would think

It's going to be 4 laned (http://www.gmrgroup.co.in/roads_news_item_19Oct06.html)

Probably they would make the existing 2 laned road into a service road.

July 5th, 2007, 05:48 AM

Bangalore

Land acquisition for Peripheral Ring Road gets nod

Setting in motion plans for the new hi-tech corridor between Magadi Road and Mysore Road, land acquisition for the BDA’s Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) that will cut through the corridor was cleared by the cabinet on Wednesday.
Home minister M P Prakash told reporters after a cabinet meeting that 9 acres and 28 guntas of land at Srigandhakaval in Yeshwantpur, Sajjepalya and Malagal village would be acquired by the BDA. The project cost for the PRR in this section will be Rs 72.83 crore.
The dedicated hi-tech corridor for clean industries, aimed at IT and ITES, will cover 1,000 acres and will be 17 to 29 km from the city centre.
The PRR will be a six-lane road cutting right in the middle of the corridor, with office space for the sector on either side.

http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/2718/pc0031200bc5.jpg

[TOI]

Klpvrksh

July 6th, 2007, 11:08 PM

Going uphill may be an easier task soon

http://img137.imagevenue.com/loc190/th_55746_06_07_2007_501_006_122_190lo.jpg (http://img137.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=55746_06_07_2007_501_006_122_190lo.jpg)

PS: I have a question about importing images in your post. I can upload an image at some site (e.g. imagevenue) and hotlink a clickable thumbnail but I am unable to import an image from my hard drive. There is an insert image option on the reply menu but doesn't seem to work. I am using Firefox 2.0 + Mac OSX 10.3.9. Apologise if this is the wrong place to ask!

July 6th, 2007, 11:30 PM

just go to http://www.imageshack.us/

for uploading images from the the Hard drive click on Browse and then upload.

when the new page loads,select the last link in the list and place it in between tags

July 7th, 2007, 02:19 AM

NHAI plans projects worth Rs 1.5K cr

THE NATIONAL Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved three projects worth Rs 1,550 crore covering 235.5 kilometers in three states.

The investment approval for design, engineering, finance, construction, operation and maintenance of three projects on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis was made at the authority's 64th Board meeting held early this week. The projects fall in the state of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana and are a part of NHDP PhaseIIIA.

NHAI is implementing National Highway Development Project (NHDP) Phase-III on public private partnership (PPP) mode using BOT model. The 4/6laning of 4000 km of national highways on BOT basis under NHDP Phase-III was approved in March 2005 at an estimated cost of Rs 22,000 crore (as per 2004 prices). The projects fall in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana and are a part of NHDP Phase-IIIA. The projects will have adequate provisions for construction of bridges, flyovers, service roads. The three projects approved include a Patna-Muzaffarpur 17.071 km bypass in section NH-77 connecting NH-28. The approximate length of the project is 63.371 km and is likely to cost Rs 458 crore. The board approved two more road projects covering 82.80 km in Khalghat-Madhya Pradesh/Maharashtra border section on NH3 at estimated cost of Rs 549 crore and a project connecting 89.36 km of Rohtak-Hissar section for about Rs 543 crore.

[HT]

Kingmaker

July 8th, 2007, 12:50 PM

Four laning of NH45

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3568/dscf1364ku8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

July 10th, 2007, 09:47 PM

Looks like a massive 12 laned ring road is going to be built by Reliance ADAG around Jaipur.

Quote from an article (http://www.business-standard.com/compindustry/storypage.php?leftnm=1&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=290728&tab=r)
Two of the largest projects executed by the company include the 20-km-long Western Freeway Sealink Project, which will connect Worli to Nariman Point in Mumbai at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, and the Jaipur Ring Road Project, which involves the construction of a 12-lane 150 km-long highway around Jaipur, at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore.

more from a Jaipur property site (http://www.jaipurproperty.com/jaipur.htm)
Land for the Multi-Lane Ring Road has been acquired and Reliance is undertaking to develop this Ring Road.

July 11th, 2007, 01:59 AM

Delhi-Rohtak section of NH10 to be 6 laned
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/Six-lane_road_to_Rohtak_in_two_years/articleshow/2187212.cms)
In what can be called a major relief for commuters on Delhi-Rohtak Road, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded the project of converting the 63.5 km Delhi-Bahadurgarh-Rohtak road in six lanes to a consortium on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The project is scheduled to be completed in two years and will involve an investment of Rs 486 crore.

A senior PWD official from Chandigarh said that the project would meet the deadline as the land for the widening of the road has already been acquired. "Secondly, there is no stake of any other state government. This project will change the face of the region, the official said.

Making the announcement, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that apart from widening the existing National Highway, two long bypasses would also be constructed at Bahadurgarh and Rohtak. The bypass of Bahadurgarh would be 13 km long and bypass of Rohtak would be of 25 km.

This project is also expected to prove a boon for the states economy. NHAI officials said that there would be five grade separators and four under passes to facilitate free flow of traffic in this 63.5 km stretch.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2408/nh10qe4.jpg

Euromast

July 11th, 2007, 11:05 AM

HI IU
Do u know anything about ARB expressway?
Is there any feasibility studies going on?

July 11th, 2007, 07:24 PM

HI IU
Do u know anything about ARB expressway?
Is there any feasibility studies going on?

The expressway is still in the conceptual stage. Right now according to HSIIDC's website (http://hsidc.nic.in/hfi.htm) they are going to appoint a consultant soon after the bids from the consultant were received in June. There are some PDF's on their website that give information on some meetings held b/w HSIIDC and consultants like RITES and others in the past months.

After the consultant is appointed,it would take 6 months for them to prepare a report on the expressway.

vlakshmi_n

July 12th, 2007, 11:12 PM

Bangalore-Nangali (NH4) road project will begin soon

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul132007/district2007071212574.asp

The projects for the 6-lane road from Bangalore to Hosakote and 4-lane road from Krishnarajapura to Nangali will be started from September onwards, informed Union Minister of State for Land Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa.
Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, he said the Government had signed a tender contract with a private company with regards to these road projects. All the initial formalities had been completed and the project was supposed to start. It is estimated that the projects would be completed within 24-26 months, he added.

Suncity

July 13th, 2007, 03:24 AM

Freeway to free Mumbai traffic

http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=inbombay&xfile=July2007_inbombay_standard13474

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has come out with the plan to construct a freeway connecting South Mumbai to Ghatkopar. The 26-kilometer ‘Eastern Freeway’ will start from the Prince of Wales Museum to Ghatkopar Station. The multi-level freeway will be built along the coastal areas of East Mumbai and will follow the alignment starting from the Mumbai Port Trust land at Colaba and will connect to Sewri- Anik.
Work on the freeway project will start from October this year and will be budgeted at around Rs. 518 crores.
Elaborating on the plans for the freeway, N. Kavatkar, the MMRDA spokesperson said, “Considering the requirements of the Port Trust and ground movements of the traffic from the port, an elevated road has been proposed for the part of the alignment passing through the port area while allowing adequate roadway at grade for the existing land uses, namely disused godowns and activities in the vicinity.”
Kavatkar added, “We needed to put an end to the traffic problems in Mumbai, and so this freeway will be helpful in a much larger way. In order to have effective traffic management, two lanes for entry and exit ramps are being provided for the elevated corridor. These will be at Carnac Bunder and at Wadi Bunder on P. D’Mello Road.
Further, in order to facilitate traffic from the BPT an exit ramp is proposed near Orange Gate, near CST. At Sewri, there is a proposal for connecting the proposed east-west corridor through the Acharya Donde Marg.”
Elaborating on the time that the project is expected to take, Kavatkar said, “The work is expected to be completed in three years. To ensure a fast-track construction, the minimum hindrance to existing traffic, stringent quality control measures will be undertaken.”
Kavatkar informed that funds for the construction of the free way will be shared between the state government, the MMRDA and the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. “The Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission will share 35 percent, state government will have a share of 15 percent and the MMRDA will have a 50 percent stake. This freeway will help buses that travel to Goa, Bangalore and Pune, as more than 45 minutes of their travel time will be saved. BEST buses can also save around 30 minutes of time,” Kavatkar said.

Phases for the ‘Eastern Freeway’ project…
PHASE 1:
MUSEUM TO CARNAC BUNDER
(2.320 Km)
Museum to WH Marg (1.640 Km). This is a well developed divided four-lane concrete road. There is no scope for further widening. Thus, only minimum treatment is proposed, which comprises of pedestrian improvement measures covering footpaths with paver blocks, reinstating kerb lines and median and supplementing road amenities.
WH Marg to Carnac Bunder (0.680 Km)
This is a six lane concrete road with a wide carriageway and a median. The improvement of existing roads to full Development Plan (DP) width comprises of remaking of footpaths, the provision of paver block side strips, junction improvements and provision of road amenities.

PHASE 2:
CARNAC BUNDER TO BPT PIPE LINE GATE (8.920 Km)
Carnac Bunder to Wadi Bunder (P. D’Mello Road) (1.820 Km)
The improvement proposals include existing road improvements and the construction of a four lane flyover at Carnac Bunder, two lane elevated road from Carnac Bunder to Wadi Bunder. The improvement of existing roads to full DP width comprises of the remaking of footpaths, provision of paver block side strips, etc.

PHASE 3:
BPT PIPE LINE GATE TO Anik Panjarpole Link Road JN (0.700 Km)
This is a missing link over the existing saltpans and is proposed to be constructed with six lane pavement.

July 13th, 2007, 03:58 AM

The bids for the elevated section of the freeway were invited back in June. (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=13937835&postcount=44)

alignment from an earlier post -

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6862/pc0031200aa5cz6.jpg

I had seen a better map of the alignment in the past week..probably on TOI or DNA.

pding

July 13th, 2007, 05:51 PM

somebody should compile a list of all the freeways and expressways being built in Mumbai along with the current progress in their construction, b/c in the recent times i have seen several of these proposals for Mumbai but am not sure which one is actually being built.

July 16th, 2007, 12:47 AM

U/C elevated highway near Chandigarh. this could be NH22-Chandigarh-Ambala

copyright TorchiPhotos
taken on May13
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1972/662597506b1ec4e489boei1.jpg

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/8884/66259767410595b44d5ojo2.jpg

vlakshmi_n

July 17th, 2007, 10:57 PM

Lanco Infratech bags Rs 10.06 bn contracts.

Bangalore-Nangali (NH4) road project will begin soon

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul132007/district2007071212574.asp
The projects for the 6-lane road from Bangalore to Hosakote and 4-lane road from Krishnarajapura to Nangali will be started from September onwards, informed Union Minister of State for Land Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa.

Source: IRIS (16 July 2007)
Lanco Infratech (Hyderabad-based infrastructure player) said on Monday that Lanco Hoskote Highway and Lanco Devihalli Highways, two special purpose vehicles of Lanco, have bagged Rs 10.06 billion contracts for construction and operation of two road projects in Karnataka on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase III.

The concession agreements for the projects have been signed with the National Highways Authority. The two road projects are the 81 km Bangalore-Hoskote-Mudbagal stretch on National Highway 4 and 82 km Neelamangla - Devihalli stretch on National Highway 48. The project involves six laning of 16 km stretch and four laning of the remaining stretches.

The concession periods are 20 and 25 years for the two projects respectively, including 30 months period of construction. The contracts have been awarded through a competitive bidding process.

ramkan

July 19th, 2007, 04:26 AM

Glad to see Indian infrastructure companies bagging bigger projects. NHAI really struggled to get big companies to take up the initial phase. Things are picking up on the public-private partnership model.

vlakshmi_n

July 19th, 2007, 11:05 PM

Reliance to build 3 highways in TN

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul202007/national2007071913924.asp

The Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) on Thursday signed Concession Agreements with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for building three national highways, totalling 400 kms on NH-7, in Tamil Nadu on Build-Operate-Transfer basis.
REL clinched the deal, worth Rs 2,320 crores, through competitive bidding for the four-lane national highway projects under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) Phase IIIA in the southern state.
With these projects, Reliance ADA group has not only emerged as the largest BOT concessionaire but also strengthened its position as a serious player in road infrastructure business in the country.
For executing the projects, REL has promoted three special purpose vehicles (SPVs) – SU Tollways Pvt Limited, TU Tollways Pvt Limited and TK Tollways Pvt Limited.
The concession agreements for 25-year and 30-year period projects were signed by Mr Sudhir R Hoshing, Vice President, Road projects, Reliance Energy, and Mr Rajesh Poonia, GM, NHAI.
Investment
The projects awarded include a high-traffic density corridor from Salem to Ulundurpet, Trichy to Dindigul and Trichy to Karur. The latter two projects are contiguous to the already awarded REL projects — Dindigul to Samyanallore and Namakkal to Karur — in Tamil Nadu.
The projects would entail an investment worth Rs 2,320 crores, including a grant component of Rs 758 crores on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis under the direct tolling method scheduled for completion by 2010. The new additions would take the REL road portfolio to five projects having a total length of 400 kms worth Rs 3,100 crores in just two years.
Once operational, the new scientifically designed highways will ease traffic congestion, drastically, cut travel time, ensure a safer and comfortable movement of traffic and incur less fuel costs.
REL envisages improving more than 400 km of arterial routes of National Highways network to international standards.
The Salem-Ulenderpaet (NH68) project, having a length of 136 km, is to be constructed at an expenditure of Rs 941 crore. It is the major corridor that connects Coimbatore/Kerala to Chennai and eastern parts of Tamil Nadu. This corridor also connects NH7 from Bangalore side to Pondicherry and other eastern parts of TN.

Babji

July 20th, 2007, 02:37 AM

Reliance to build 3 highways in TN

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jul202007/national2007071913924.asp

... Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) on Thursday signed Concession Agreements with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for building three national highways, totalling 400 kms on NH-7, in Tamil Nadu on Build-Operate-Transfer basis.

REL clinched the deal, worth Rs 2,320 crores, through competitive bidding for the four-lane national highway projects under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) Phase IIIA in the southern state...

The projects awarded include a high-traffic density corridor from Salem to Ulundurpet, Trichy to Dindigul and Trichy to Karur. The latter two projects are contiguous to the already awarded REL projects — Dindigul to Samyanallore and Namakkal to Karur — in Tamil Nadu...

The Salem-Ulenderpaet (NH68) project, having a length of 136 km... connects Coimbatore/Kerala to Chennai and eastern parts of Tamil Nadu. This corridor also connects NH7 from Bangalore side to Pondicherry and other eastern parts of TN.
cool. NHAI is working hard to improve the highways.

July 20th, 2007, 03:33 AM

^
Those 3 stretches are not on NH7 but NH68,67 and 45.

this map should help - note that GMR is 4 laning NH45 from tindivanam in the north(not shown) to ulundurpet while the Ulundurpet to trichy section is being 4 laned by a consortium of Navayuga-Indu-Abhisek(Trichy-Padalur section) and the the Padalur-Ulundurpet section by a consortium of IJM-Sapoorji Pallonji.

EDIT - I know the above details are shit confusing..in short NH45 is right now also being converted to 4 lanes.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/6996/reliance3hwyayu9.jpg

July 20th, 2007, 04:31 AM

Madhya Pradesh cabinet approves four-lane Bhopal by-pass project (http://www.projectstoday.com/newsr.asp?newsid=18671)

On 17 July 2007, the Madhya Pradesh cabinet approved four-lane new Bhopal by-pass project under BOT basis with an investment of Rs.242.90 crore.

The project envisages:

* Conversion of the two-lane road from Misrod to Raisen road into four-lane having a length of 13.80 km.
* A 27.74 km four-lane road will be constructed from Raisen to Narsinghgarh road (near Gandhinagar).
* Two-lane road from Narsinghgarh road to Indore road with a length of 10.50 km will be converted into four-lane.
* Construction of four-lane railway over bridges at two places and flyovers at two places (Vidisha road and Berasia road).

The concession period for the project including construction period will be 15 years.

July 21st, 2007, 06:14 PM

along with the 3 highway projects handed to Reliance there was another small one handed (http://www.projectstoday.com/newsr.asp?newsid=18680) to a consortium of Maytas-NCC for 4 laning the Tindivanam - Pondicherry stretch of NH66(45kms)

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4240/nh66hx1.jpg
____________

Govt nod for NHAI mgmt restructuring

The government has given its nod for the restructuring of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Under the restructuring, the selection of the chairman will be done by a search committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary, comprising Secretary, Department of Road Transport and Highways, Planning Commission secretary and other senior government officials, including one of the directors of IIMs to be nominated by the Cabinet Secretary.
......
...
.
This decision will equip NHAI manage the enhanced mandate, and handle PPP projects effectively in the future. It will meet the nation’s need for the provision and maintenance of the national highways network to global standards, and to meet motorists' expectations in the most time bound and cost effective manner.

Read On (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=25694)

Aryabhata

July 21st, 2007, 08:37 PM

Any idea what is happening to the PWD departments in all the states ? They should have started dismantling by now as their contribution (??) is fast reducing.

vadi

July 21st, 2007, 09:55 PM

they morph their profiles, but will not disappear. once a position is created it is quite difficult to nullify it.

cncity

July 23rd, 2007, 05:09 AM

Expressway till Sion circle, Mumbai to Pune in 2 hours

Dhaval Kulkarni

Mumbai, July 22: Tired of endless traffic jams while travelling from Mumbai to Pune? In future, you will be able to cover this distance in two hours.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) plans to extend the 95-km Mumbai-Pune Expressway till Sion circle from Panvel, where it currently ends.

The expressway will be extended by 33 kms and converted into a 12-lane road, making it the first-of-its-kind Urban Access Control Road in India. Work is expected to start by December.

According to Anil Deshmukh, minister for Public Works and MSRDC chairman, commuters would be able to cover the distance between Mumbai and Pune in around two hours once the project gets over. Now, the journey takes between three to three-and-a-half hours.

“It takes people almost the same time to reach Mumbai from Panvel as it takes to cover the distance between Panvel and Pune due to the heavy traffic and bottlenecks. Once the expressway is extended to Sion, these woes will be done away with,” he added.

Six lanes of the prospective 12-lane stretch of expressway (three on either side) would be fenced off and barricaded, so that they can be used exclusively for the traffic travelling between the two cities. This would also help ease the pressure on intra-city traffic.

Though the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was the first Access Control Road in India, it was not an Urban Access Control road, as it passed through the ghats and not through urban areas.

MSRDC will soon appoint consultants to draw up the estimated cost of the project, but Deshmukh pegged it at around Rs 700 crore. The work to extend the expressway will be undertaken while keeping a stretch of the road open for regular traffic.

“The road will have foot overbridges, underpasses, subways, and flyovers. We will divide the 33-km stretch into four segments and allocate them to different consultants. This will ensure that the project is completed soon as more than one contractor will be involved and the work will proceed simultaneously,” added Deshmukh.

He said that international tenders will be floated to invite consultants for pre-tendering activities and project planning. The consultants will work on topographical surveys, draw up designs and estimates of the passenger car units (PCUs) using the road and the likely growth in them, and whether the project is to be executed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) or cash-contract-basis.

Deshmukh added that they had initially floated bids to shortlist the consultants, but were forced to go in for re-tendering after the bids received by them overshot their financial estimates. Also, the MSRDC will dilute some of its conditions regarding the qualifications of the consultants, so that more candidates could be considered.

Moreover, the State government will not have to undergo the cumbersome process of land acquisition and removal of encroachments for this project, as it has “100 per cent of the land” under its possession.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=247251

PlaneMad

July 23rd, 2007, 02:57 PM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Mumbai_Pune_Expressway_map.svg/739px-Mumbai_Pune_Expressway_map.svg.png

Bombay Boy

July 23rd, 2007, 07:03 PM

12 lanes all the way through? are they planning a new bridge over panvel creek? or will that part remain as it is?

Prodigist

July 23rd, 2007, 07:28 PM

Is part of the expie in GREEN near MUMBAi a part of the Bandra-Worli Sealink or is it a new sealink?????

PlaneMad

July 23rd, 2007, 08:08 PM

Is part of the expie in GREEN near MUMBAi a part of the Bandra-Worli Sealink or is it a new sealink?????

Nope thats the existing crossing at Vashi. The red part is the official MPE. The green part near Pune is the Pune bypass.
I've got to label that map on of these days.
For details about the rail lines see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mumbai_suburban_rail_map.svg

voryaa

July 24th, 2007, 04:53 PM

if they could connect this 12 lane road to the finish bwsl (signal free) that would do a lot of good for mumbaikars

Sridhar

July 24th, 2007, 07:35 PM

From the Eastern Express Highway (which will be converted into a 12-lane freeway), the Santa Cruz-Chembur link (being built currently under the MUTP) will provide a signal free corridor all the way to the Western Express Highway and hence to the BWSL.

July 26th, 2007, 01:36 AM

MIHAN road project awarded to Atlanta (http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=14160&secid=41)

The National Highways Authority of India has awarded Atlanta Ltd, a leading infrastructure development and construction company, the contract to strengthen, widen operate and maintain a stretch of the 41-km Nagpur-Kondhali road on NH-6 outside Nagpur city. The project aims at converting the existing two-lane road into a four-lane dual carriageway from km 9.2 to km 50.
The road project forms part of a plan to build infrastructure around the multimodal international passenger and cargo hub airport at Nagpur. Changi Airports International of Singapore has won the technical service agreement with the Maharashtra government to develop MIHAN.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9348/nhnagour2np3.jpg

____________
Soma Enterprise gets connectivity project (http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=14161&secid=41)

The Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) road connectivity project has been awarded to Soma Enterprise Ltd. The project will be taken up in joint venture with Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd (SunCon), a Malaysian construction company. An agreement has been signed with NHAI for the Rs 329.4 crore road contract.
"With the signing of the agreement with NHAI, we would be commencing work on the project in full swing. This is one of our most challenging road projects that involve the construction of 11 bridges on a single stretch," Ankineedu Maganti, Director, Soma Enterprise, said. "We would be deploying the best technology and engineering for this vital project and are confident of completing it well within the scheduled completion period."
The project involves the construction of a 17.2-km highway which will include one flyover, 12 bridges, one railway under bridge, seven underpasses and one toll plaza. The project is scheduled for completion over 30 months.

_______________

Lanco to build two toll roads in Karnataka (http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=14163&secid=41)

LANCO Kondapalli Power Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Lanco Infratech Ltd, has won the contract for construction and operation of two road projects in Karnataka. The projects will be executed on BOT basis under the NHDP Phase-III.
The company has formed two SPVs, Lanco Hoskote Highways Pvt. Ltd and Lanco Devihalli Highways Pvt. Ltd, for undertaking the projects. The concession agreements for the projects have been signed with NHAI.
Lanco Hoskote Highways will undertake the 81-km Bangalore-Hoskote-Mudbagal stretch on NH-4 and Lanco Devihalli Highways will construct the 82-km Neelamangla-Devihalli stretch on NH-48. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,006 crore. The concession periods are 20 and 25 years, respectively, including 30 months of construction period.

according to a previous article posted by vlakshmi,the Bangalore-Hoskote section would be 6 laned after that it would be 4 laned till Mudbagal.

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/9171/nh484bangaloreil6.jpg

ramkan

July 26th, 2007, 08:13 AM

An australian journey to Himalayas

Come drive the eroding roads

Our Mahindra Scorpio on a rare section of flat, sealed road.
23 July 2007

Alan Jones

Learning the Himalayan Road Rules before you travel in northern India may save your holiday and your life.

It’s not as if I’m a shrinking violet on the road – in fact, I’m a typical Sydney driver – aggressive, rapid, short-tempered and selfish. But within a few kilometres of Delhi airport, seeing how locals behaved on a multi-lane freeway, I was certain I’d done the right thing in allowing the tour company to provide a local driver.

For the next two weeks, we’d cover almost 2,000km as we ventured north-east on narrow, winding, unsealed mountain roads into the state of Himachal Pradesh and the Kinnaur and Spiti valleys.

When you climb to over 5,000m in a few days you expect to spend a lot of time crossing your fingers as you traverse yet another one-lane blind corner cut into a cliff face with nothing but a crumbling earth edge and a thousand metre drop on the other side. We got lost, we changed flat tyres… all as you’d expect on any lengthy bush trip.

But unique to this trip, we were also wedged against a rock face by a passing lorry, almost washed off a mountainside by a monsoon mudslide, drove underneath the titanic waterfall exiting a hydroelectric turbine, and at all times were subject to the amusing, complex and sometimes terrifying code of conduct which are the ‘Himalayan Road Rules.’

For the benefit of CARSguide readers, here’s a quick survival guide for your next venture on the subcontinent.

Himalayan Road Rules

1. You are your horn. Communicate even the smallest thought or gesture using the button in the middle of your steering wheel. It’s just responsible driving to beep when approaching a blind hairpin bend that’s only wide enough for one car to pass, because there’s almost certainly an overloaded lorry or bus coming the other way.

But it’s also a good idea to use your horn to let other drivers know that you’re overtaking, that you’re changing lanes, pulling over, that you believe you have right of way, that you’re happy, that you’re tired, and that you were the last vehicle past the landslide around the next corner. Learn to interpret the different lengths and intensity of beep and you’ll be able to understand the complex series of messages that pass between drivers on mountain roads; the poetry of the mountain highways.

2. If it’s behind you, it’s not there. Locals drive with their side mirrors folded in, to make squeezing past other vehicles easier when the unsealed, soft-shouldered road on the edge of the precipice is only one and a half vehicles wide - most of the time.

Rear view mirrors are useless because the additional people, goods and livestock you’ll pick up en-route is limited only by the ceiling of your vehicle or the load-bearing capacity of your rear axle. Besides, if there’s a vehicle behind you, it’ll beep.

3. Safe overtaking distances are measured in beeps. A 4WD travelling at 40km/hr behind a heavily-loaded passenger bus travelling at 38km/hr wishes to overtake. There is 100m of unsealed, soft-shouldered road between the bus and the next blind curve. What is the minimum distance required in which to attempt to overtake? Hint: the correct answer is measured in beeps, not metres.

You’ll need enough time to ask the bus driver if he thinks you should overtake, for him to reply, for you to signal your intention to overtake, and then for him to concede the lead; all done with beeps. Once you’ve both agreed that overtaking will be attempted, then you must complete the overtake, no matter how much squeezing, swerving and emergency braking is required to do so. I’m not sure what the penalty is for chickening-out, but I assume it carries a death penalty, judging by the at-all-costs approach taken to most overtaking manoeuvres.

4. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is trying its best. Ancient seabeds just weren’t made to be tilted on their side, and certainly were never intended to make a stable, permanent road base.

The state of Himachal Pradesh is essentially one big mass of ancient seabed, simultaneously being raised into the sky by the colliding Asian Plate and eroding just as quickly back into the Arabian Sea.

You don’t need to be a geologist to spot erosion at work – most BRO road crews clear landslides by just pushing them off the side of the road, using explosives, bulldozers and much of the time, their bare hands. As most roads zig-zag down a mountain, this means the landslide just rolls down the mountainside onto a lower section of road. The BRO, charged with the ‘mission impossible’ of trying to keep some sort of road network open while the Himalayas crumble down around it, shrugs its shoulders and walks down the hill to shift it again. What else can you do?

More than once, the rocks tumbling down the hill towards our car had been set in motion by a BRO road crew further up the mountain. So in case you’re cursing them for the life-threatening state of their road network, the BRO gets busy with road-signs bearing some classic messages including these:

”BRO never looks back” (neither do road users)

”Accidents don’t happen, they are caused” (though BRO may share some of the blame)

“Darling, I want you, but not so fast” (a saucy warning to slow down)

”Be mild on my curves”

And this one, above an annual tally of employee fatalities:

”BRO: putting our lives on the line for your safety”

Alan Jones travelled to India at his own expense, with YakTrak Tours and despite the driving adventures, had a wonderful time.

News Digital Media

vadi

July 26th, 2007, 02:12 PM

IU any idea about the other end of it NH 48? Anything going on at the Shiradi Ghat side of it?

July 26th, 2007, 07:51 PM

Vadi - there was some news on a small stretch near Mangalore b/w NH17 and NH48 but not on NH48.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/23/stories/2006092319450300.htm

And this blog (http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html) has an article suggesting that NHAI has started a feasibility study for 4/6 laning of the Hassan-Mangalore stretch(137kms)

Around 670 km of NH is being taken up by NHAI for four/six laning under NHDP phase III. The NHAI has also taken up a feasibility study for the four/six laning of Kundapur-Karnataka/Goa border on NH 17 (192 km), Hassan-Mangalore section of NH 48 (137 km) and Hospet-Bellary section of NH 63 (70 km).

vibs89

July 27th, 2007, 06:57 AM

LANCO Kondapalli Power Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Lanco Infratech Ltd, has won the contract for construction and operation of two road projects in Karnataka. The projects will be executed on BOT basis under the NHDP Phase-III.
The company has formed two SPVs, Lanco Hoskote Highways Pvt. Ltd and Lanco Devihalli Highways Pvt. Ltd, for undertaking the projects. The concession agreements for the projects have been signed with NHAI.
Lanco Hoskote Highways will undertake the 81-km Bangalore-Hoskote-Mudbagal stretch on NH-4 and Lanco Devihalli Highways will construct the 82-km Neelamangla-Devihalli stretch on NH-48. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,006 crore. The concession periods are 20 and 25 years, respectively, including 30 months of construction period.
Source:http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=14163&secid=41

onlyprince

July 28th, 2007, 10:29 AM

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/8852/28072007753003xk6.jpg

vadi

July 29th, 2007, 03:59 AM

Vadi - there was some news on a small stretch near Mangalore b/w NH17 and NH48 but not on NH48.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/23/stories/2006092319450300.htm

And this blog (http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html) has an article suggesting that NHAI has started a feasibility study for 4/6 laning of the Hassan-Mangalore stretch(137kms)

IU thanks for that info. since these roads are subject to rains like the MPE, they should consider concreting them.

ajithv

July 29th, 2007, 04:03 PM

NHAI has signed the concession agreement for four projects to be taken up in Tamil Nadu. These will be taken up on BOT basis under NHDP phase-III. The total cost sums up to Rs 2,318 crore for four-laning of 343 km.
The NHAI has signed agreements with Pondicherry Tindivanam Tollway Ltd (SPV formed by Maytas-NCC Consortium) for Pondicherry-Tindivanam Section of NH-66. The total cost is Rs 285 crore.
NHAI has signed agreements with SU Toll Road Pvt Ltd, TD Toll Road Pvt Ltd and TK Toll Road Pvt Ltd (SPVs formed by Reliance Energy Ltd). SU Toll Road Pvt Ltd will take up Salem-Ulundurpet section of NH-68 at a total cost of Rs 941 crore. The Trichy-Dindigul section of NH-45 at a cost of Rs 576 crore and Trichy-Karur section of NH-67 at a cost of Rs 516 crore.
The concession period is 25 years, including 36 months of construction period, for Salem-Ulundurpet section. For the remaining three stretches the period is 30 years, including 30 months of construction period. The projects will include construction of ROBs, bridges, flyovers, service roads and wayside amenities.

ajithv

July 29th, 2007, 04:13 PM

The Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) road connectivity project has been awarded to Soma Enterprise Ltd. The project will be taken up in joint venture with Sunway Construction Sdn Bhd (SunCon), a Malaysian construction company. An agreement has been signed with NHAI for the Rs 329.4 crore road contract.
"With the signing of the agreement with NHAI, we would be commencing work on the project in full swing. This is one of our most challenging road projects that involve the construction of 11 bridges on a single stretch," Ankineedu Maganti, Director, Soma Enterprise, said. "We would be deploying the best technology and engineering for this vital project and are confident of completing it well within the scheduled completion period."
The project involves the construction of a 17.2-km highway which will include one flyover, 12 bridges, one railway under bridge, seven underpasses and one toll plaza. The project is scheduled for completion over 30 months.

ajithv

July 29th, 2007, 04:14 PM

July 29th, 2007, 05:21 PM

How many times do we have to post the same news?

india

July 29th, 2007, 07:32 PM

How many times do we have to post the same news?

Re-posts help increase post count. Right, ajithv? :D

cncity

July 29th, 2007, 08:45 PM

Re-posts help increase post count. Right, ajithv? :D

Lol its still 46 after 3 posts....It happens only on SSC

July 31st, 2007, 06:12 AM

Record works under NHDP this year (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=292844&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to award contracts worth Rs 46,000 crore for 7,084 km of national highways (for four-laning and six-laning) in 2007-08.

This is the highest yearly target set by the ministry since the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) started by the National Highway Authority (NHAI) in 1999.

The ministry is also aiming to complete the upgrade of 2,885 km of highways during this fiscal. A senior NHAI official said work for only 1,790 km of highways was awarded in 2006-07.

The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) of the ministry has now cleared an 882 km stretch for six-laning under phase V of the NHDP at a cost of Rs 6,293 crore. Ministry sources said with the toll policy cleared, the ministry would go all out to upgrade as many highways as possible.

In fact, a section of officials had said the PPPAC, set up in October 2005, led to a slowdown in the awarding of the contracts. In 2005-06, the ministry awarded contracts for a 4,665 km stretch. The lull witnessed in 2006-07 (when contracts for only 1,790 km of highways were awarded) was attributed to delays by the PPPAC.

However, the ministry is trying to make up for the lost time, sources say.

The ministry has divided the 7,084 km stretch, to be awarded this fiscal, into three parts. Around 3,000 km stretch will be six-laned, while the rest will be four-laned.

The ministry is in the process of preparing detailed project reports for the projects, for which the PPAC is yet for clear the bids.

Euromast

July 31st, 2007, 11:05 AM

by subh m singh

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6850/533043345bf86aa5994il1.jpg

ajithv

August 3rd, 2007, 05:40 AM

Four-laning work on National Highways will be completed in October 2008. Efforts are on to clear bottlenecks in certain pockets over disbursal of compensation and acquisition of land and other disputes, Union Minister for Shipping, Surface Transport and Highways T.R. Baalu has said.

He was talking to mediapersons after inspecting a project in Karur-Dindigul stretch at Vedasandur near here on Wednesday.

The problems between Karur and Salem section had been solved, he said.

A sum of Rs. 24 crore had been sanctioned for the construction of a bridge on Thoppur Ghat Road, often considered a danger zone.

Sensing the high density of traffic between Krishangiri and Hathipalli in Karnataka, this stretch would be converted into six lanes at an estimated cost of Rs. 480 crore. Six-lanes were necessary to meet future demands, Mr. Baalu said. “All bridges on the highways will have six lanes, keeping in mind future expansion plans,” he added.

Work on a five-km stretch was pending in the Karur-Dindigul section owing to delay in distribution of compensation. “It will be given immediately,” he said.

The Centre had permitted the import of cement when the contractors said that Vedasandur Bypass work was delayed owing to shortage of material. “The supply will be streamlined soon,” he said.

Earlier the contractors told Mr. Baalu that work on 900 metres of the total 5.5 km Vedasandur Bypass was also pending.

A total of Rs. 20 crore had been given for the construction of a flyover at Omalaur and Rs.15 crore for an elevated structure near the Salem airport.

Land acquisition for four-laning of the Tiruchi-Dindigul Highway would commence shortly, he said.

“I, along with revenue officials and NHAI officials, discussed with the public about compensation. Some farmers demanded land and not money. Revenue officials have been instructed to expedite distribution of compensation,” Mr. Baalu said.

On the Sethusamudram project, he said that the work would be completed within the stipulated time. “Indigenous technology is enough to finish the project successfully,” he said.

ajithv

August 4th, 2007, 05:10 AM

THANJAVUR: About 3,230 km of National Highways are being converted into four-lane highways in Tamil Nadu, said Union Minister for Surface Transport T. R. Baalu here on Friday.

The Minister, who inspected the works at Pudukudi and Vallam on Tiruchi-Thanjavur Highway, said that the works were taken up at a cost of Rs. 16,000 crore.

The works have generated employment for 45 persons for every km. Five persons will get permanent employment for every km on completion of the works.

Afforestation

Afforestation is an inbuilt component of the highways. For every rupee spent by the Government on National Highways there is a return of Rs 7. The National Highways will link the Golden Quadrangle.

With respect to Thanjavur-Nagapattinam four-lane works, the Minister said that the project report was ready and work would start soon. Similar was the case with Thanjavur-Manamadurai Road.

Bypasses are being laid in 12 places between Thanjavur and Nagapattinam such as Manjakollai, Sikkal, Azhiyur, Kilvelur, Kurukathi, Adiyakkamangalam, Ammaiyappan, Koradachery, Needamangalam, Ammapettai, Saliyamangalam and Poondi. With respect to Sethusamduram Ship Channel Project, the Minister said that dredging was going on for 18 million cubic metres. Another 60 million cubic metres had to be dredged.

Union Minister of State for Finance S. S. Palani Manickam, Minister for Commercial Taxes N. M. Ubayathullah and Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, J. S. Maini, accompanied him.

Karur

Road sector projects would be undertaken with a humane touch, Mr. Baalu said here on Thursday. He inspected ongoing highway development works between Namakkal and Dindigul via Karur on the NH 7.

Mr. Baalu said that his Ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were taking all steps to avoid displacement of people and destruction of property while expanding highways and construction of bridges, works of which were under way under the buil-operate-transfer scheme.H e said that wherever people or property were affected, adequate and just compensation was being provided to the affected.

Public at Thavuttupalayam gave petitions to him when he inspected the works there. They said that around 22 families, who had been residing on the banks of Cauvery for several decades, were now left roofless as their dwellings had been removed to make way for an approach road to the bridge. The Minister said whatever possible would be done.

Later, the Minister drove down to Semmadai where he was briefed on the Karur- Dindigul four laning works. He also inspected the construction of a new bridge across Kodagamaru near Malaikovilur before entering Dindigul district.

The NHAI Chaiman J. S. Maini, Member (Technical), Nirmaljeet Singh, Collector T. N. Venkatesh, Karur M.P. K. C. Palanisamy, M.L.As T. Kamaraj and M. A. Khaleelur Rahman, NHAI CGM Ashok Wasson, Project Director M. Thangamani, DMK District Secretary Vasuki Murugesan, District Panchayat Chairperson Poovai Ramesh Babu and other officials accompanied the Minister.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/04/stories/2007080451760300.htm

Hindustani

August 6th, 2007, 06:14 AM

looks like 6-lane flyover with shoulders. Man!! any place around delhi are having a serious road infrastructure overhaul. B'lore, Hyd, Chennai should learn from this.

by subh m singh
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6850/533043345bf86aa5994il1.jpg

Prodigist

August 6th, 2007, 02:10 PM

looks like 6-lane flyover with shoulders. Man!! any place around delhi are having a serious road infrastructure overhaul. B'lore, Hyd, Chennai should learn from this.

Ya.... Particularly when taxes from all around the country are poured into delhi and its surroundings leaving the rest of the country to share the remaining scrap

Euromast

August 6th, 2007, 05:32 PM

Ya.... Particularly when taxes from all around the country are poured into delhi and its surroundings leaving the rest of the country to share the remaining scrap

Yaar this is not NCR, its part of NHDP Phase 3A, it covers all over India.

PlaneMad

August 6th, 2007, 08:34 PM

The more the NCR contrasts with surrounding areas, the more the influx of people into :nono:

Euromast

August 6th, 2007, 09:21 PM

The more the NCR contrasts with surrounding areas, the more the influx of people into :nono:

In India its normal for growth centers to have better infrastructure than the neighbouring regions, In north India there is mass migration from eastern UP and Bihar to NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and chandigarh punjab region. But thatz was always the case before also

August 7th, 2007, 02:07 AM

Era Infra Engineering Ltd has bagged (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Property__Cstruction/Era_bags_Rs_550_cr_NHAI_contract/articleshow/2260623.cms)the 6 lane Delhi-Bahadurgarh-Rohtak project that had earlier been posted about. (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=14205387&postcount=170)

Length - 63.5kms
Deadline- Sept09
Cost - 550crores

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2408/nh10qe4.jpg

August 7th, 2007, 01:39 PM

Ya.... Particularly when taxes from all around the country are poured into delhi and its surroundings leaving the rest of the country to share the remaining scrap

I don't think all the money comes from government's coffer.

Babji

August 9th, 2007, 03:56 PM

Govt approves Rs 5,600cr highway upgrade
BS Reporters / New Delhi August 9, 2007
In a further thrust to adding more lanes to highways, the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) today approved the upgradation of existing
four-laned national highways to six lanes at a cost of Rs 5,610.77 crore.

The national highways selected for upgradation include - Gurgaon-Jaipur,
Surat-Dahisar, Chilkaluripet-Vijaywada and Panipat-Jalandhar. These four stretches together measure about 838 km.

The CCEA decision comes afterthe public-private-partnership appraisal committee (PPPAC) of the ministry for road transport and highways recently approved five stretches for additional lanes under phase V of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP).

Euromast

August 16th, 2007, 02:31 PM

New Delhi, Aug 16: Given the rising number of accidents on highways, the National Highways Authority of India will increase the number of ambulances, manned by critical care personnel, on these connectivities.

Nirmaljeet Singh, member, NHAI, said the provision of providing ambulance is part of the contract for the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and the North-South East-West (NSEW) corridors now. It is the contractor's responsibility to make available an ambulance and a crane for evey 50 km of the road after completion

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=389166&sid=NAT&ssid=&news=NHAI%20to%20ensure%20trauma%20management%20on%20highways

Euromast

August 20th, 2007, 09:15 PM

While the government is going ahead with the six-laning of highways, it is still not clear how to implement the work of two-laning the 20,000-km national highway in remote areas.

The two-laning comes under phase IV of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) and the government is yet to decide whether to give the work to the state governments or the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=295251&subLeft=1&leftnm=3

vlakshmi_n

August 26th, 2007, 05:20 AM

IU any idea about the other end of it NH 48? Anything going on at the Shiradi Ghat side of it?

There's some work starting on Shiradi Ghat stretch of National Highway 48.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/26/stories/2007082659840400.htm

Shiradi Ghat road to be repaired

BANGALORE: Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna has said that the Shiradi Ghat stretch of National Highway 48 (Mangalore-Bangalore) will be repaired soon.

He told presspersons here on Saturday that the ghat section was badly damaged. The Union Ministry for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways had released Rs. 31 crore for the repair work. Tenders would be called soon. The National Highways Authority of India had decided to set up a sub-division in the region. The PWD invited tenders three times, but no firm had come forward to repair the highway, he said.

The State had submitted a proposal to the Centre to concrete the 40-km ghat section at an estimated cost of Rs. 100 crore. Concreting the ghat section was the only way to prevent the surface from deteriorating during the rainy season every year. The traditional asphalt surface would not last in adverse climatic conditions, especially with overloaded lorries using the road, he said.

vlakshmi_n

August 27th, 2007, 04:54 PM

NHAI projects to ensure safe wildlife passage.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/NHAI_projects_to_ensure_safe_wildlife_passage/articleshow/2312948.cms

NEW DELHI: Public-private partnership has now made a foray into wildlife conservation. The decades-old national highway passing in the elephant-rich area of Rajaji National park between Haridwar and Dehradun has been infamous as a killing ground for the pachyderms. But the modern highway that has to be constructed on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis will have two exclusive elephant corridors.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has sought the National Wildlife Board's clearance to build two 750-metre-long flyovers in the Rajaji National Park stretch of the Delhi-Dehradun highway. The area below flyovers will be ''elephant corridors'' that will at least reduce danger posed to them while crossing road.

''The Uttranchal government wanted some steps to be taken for the safety of everyone — elephants and road users. We have now sought the Wildlife Board's clearance for these two flyovers. Once the Supreme Court also clears it, these would be bid out,'' said a senior official.

About 5-6 km stretch of the Dehradun-Haridwar highway witnesses a lot of elephant movement. This area falls in NHAI's National Highways Development Project phase-III plan to widen Delhi-Haridwar-Dehradun road. The 77 and 69-km stretch between Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar and Haridwar-Dehradun, respectively, fall in the phase III. In this phase, the government has approved four-laning of 12,109 KM of national highways at a cost of Rs 80,626 crore.

NHAI had also taken special steps in other wildlife sanctuaries. In Jharkhand, it has fenced road sides passing through wildlife rich zones. In a sections of the Delhi-Kolkata highway here, it has built 11 box culverts under the road for small animals to cross it safely. A bridge coming up on Chambal river off Kota bypass has been designed as a cable state bridge to avoid putting any piers in the riverbed and disturb a thriving crocodile sanctuary.

India's ambitious highway expansion programme — with a target of modernising 40,000 km by 2015 for about $ 50 billion — has to pass through some sensitive areas like wildlife sanctuaries. Land acquisition and clearance for these areas remains a challenge although the NHAI is now coming up with innovative solutions to meet this challenge.

August 30th, 2007, 05:07 AM

Last week, NHAI approved (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=252391)the 4-6 laning of seven National Highways in Punjab.

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/9292/punjabnhai1yc2.jpg

luvBlore

August 30th, 2007, 02:26 PM

This is the height of madness on part of Karnataka Govt. (read Gowda's Family) Surely showdown in Supreme Court is on the cards. This could be the Gowda's grand plan to pull BJP govt after transfering the power. BJP seems to be neutral till now on BMIC project..

Bangalore, PTI:

The cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, decided to revoke clauses pertaining to transfer of lands to the promoters of Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project.

Moving a step closer towards terminating its agreement on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, the Karnataka government on Thursday decided to revoke clauses pertaining to transfer of lands to the project promoter.

The cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, decided to annul certain clauses of the agreement signed between the Government and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) on August 9, 2002, which provides for alienation of land through absolute sale deed.

The cabinet decided to seek the Supreme Court's permission to enter into a new agreement with Global Infrastructure Consortium which has come forward to execute the BMIC project using only 21,193 acres of land, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti told reporters here.

The government is also contemplating floating international bids to find whether it gets a better bid than the GIC to implement the project.

irutavias

September 1st, 2007, 01:48 AM

Found this old but interesting article about Road Projects in Mumbai when browsing on Sify

14-lane highways

Chandrashekhar, otherwise known as Thane’s miracle man, is set to work his magic on Mumbai.

The IAS officer, now joint chairman of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), was instrumental in giving Thane its smooth, wide roads, when he was Thane municipal commissioner.

Work has begun on a slew of projects that will give Mumbai world-class 14-lane highways a number of 10-lane east-west corridors, something the city desperately needs.

Here are a few of the projects, which are being executed by the MMRDA under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II (MUTP-II) and the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP).

Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, Cost: Rs 118 crore Challenges: The MMRDA had to negotiate hard with IIT for this project. Now, the relocation of 350 shopkeepers along Adi Sankaracharya Marg is its biggest problem.

Many of them have agreed to shift into a mall being built by the MMRDA at the Hiranandani complex. Expected date of completion: Phase I (from the Jogeshwari on the Western Express Highway to Powai), and phase-III (from IIT junction to the Eastern Express Highway) will be completed by June 2005. Phase-II (from Powai to IIT) will be completed by December 2005.

Santacruz-Chembur Link road Cost: Rs 150 crore Challenges: One of the biggest challenges for this project has been the acquisition of land. It envisions Asia’s first double-decker flyover and this, according to MMRDA officials, will be a tough task.

The link also faces a huge encroachment problem, with 50,000 slums in its path. The BMC has already shifted its workshop along the route, while the traffic police have given up their chowkie at Kurla signal. Expected date of completion: December 2005 Project: Sion-Mahim Link Road Cost: Rs 9.22 crore Challenges: Dharavi’s leather market blocks this route and many of the shop-owners are unlikely to go quietly. Expected date of completion: October 2005 Goregaon-Mulund Link road Cost: Yet to be worked out Challenges: According to an earlier plan suggested by a traffic planning expert, this road was to be built from Sanjay Gandhi National Park. This proposal, however, was shot down by environmentalists.

Now T Chandrashekhar has planned an eight-lane road from Aarey Colony towards Mulund. An elevated road will be built from the BMC’s Bhandup complex over the pipelines.

However, the union ministry of environment and forests may not clear the proposal as the Bhandup waterworks complex is built on land leased out by the forests department. Work, however, has begun from the Goregaon and Mulund ends. Expected date of completion: Not fixed Eastern and western express highways Cost: Rs 124.47 crore for eastern and Rs 270.71 crore for western highway Challenges: Work has already begun on these projects. The existing six-lane highways will be widened to 14 lanes ones with flyovers at certain places.

The eastern highway will have a flyover at Suman Nagar, while the one-way flyover at Sion will be turned into a two-way.

The western highway will have flyovers at Thakur complex, Santacruz airport, Times of India junction and Kherwadi.

According to Chandrashekhar, one of the toughest aspects of this project is carving out the hills along the highway at Malad and Kandivali to enable road widening. The MMRDA has already been criticised for cutting trees along both these routes.

Both the highways will also have two-lane service roads on either side. The idea was first implemented in Thane and was a success. Expected date of completion: December 2005 Lal Bahadur Shastri Road (Connecting Sion and Mulund) Cost: Rs 54.86 crore Challenges: Known as the old Agra road, it is flanked by a slew of shops. Also, acquiring defence land at Kanjurmarg may involve a lot of co-ordination with the union defence department.

According to an MMRDA official, the BMC recently allowed a number of shops to come up on the pavements. They were subsequently legalised by the corporation.

Providing them an alternate location may prove difficult. However, work has begun in several areas. Expected date of completion: December 2005 Swami Vivekanand Road Cost: Rs 46.44 crore Challenges: This is the toughest of all the projects, according to Chandrashekhar. Places like Malad and Kandivli are plagues by two or three-lane bottlenecks.

The MMRDA will also have to convince a number of shop owners – a daunting task by itself. Expected date of completion: Demember 2005 (But likely to go six months beyond the deadline) Linking Road (Connecting Bandra and Borivali from the western side of the railway stations) Cost: Rs 94.98 crore Challenges: Again, the main challenge is the removal of hawkers. The MMRDA wants to make it an eight-lane road and work has already started in patches. The stretch between Borivali and Kandivli will be completed soon. Expected date of completion: December 2005 Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road Cost: Rs 76.09 crore Challenges: MMRDA wants to make this a 10-lane road. With many offices shifting to Marol and Andheri (East), this is one of the most crucial projects.

The light rail transport service will pass through the middle of the road. (The light rail project will cost Rs 1,100 crore and will be completed in four years).

Getting land for LRTS terminals at Versova may also prove to be a stiff challenge as the BMC needs the place for sewage disposal. Expected date of completion: October 2005

http://sify.com/cities/mumbai/fullstory.php?id=13630080

indian soul

September 1st, 2007, 01:17 PM

Deleted

irutavias

September 1st, 2007, 04:15 PM

What's so funny?

navbru

September 1st, 2007, 04:59 PM

retraxtes

Bombay Boy

September 1st, 2007, 05:13 PM

most of the projects in that post are already more than 50% done actually. that is a really old news item

Paddington

September 1st, 2007, 05:19 PM

most of the projects in that post are already more than 50% done actually. that is a really old news item

The Golden Quadrilateral has yet to be completed. And most of it is not even expressway grade. :ohno:

indian soul

September 1st, 2007, 09:05 PM

most of the projects in that post are already more than 50% done actually. that is a really old news item
Do u have any details, picture etc.?

irutavias

September 1st, 2007, 09:59 PM

most of the projects in that post are already more than 50% done actually. that is a really old news item

:nuts:
Sorry about that. Well it summarized all the road constructions in Mumbai for me. Haven't been there in a long time :ohno:

September 2nd, 2007, 04:55 PM

The Golden Quadrilateral has yet to be completed. And most of it is not even expressway grade. :ohno:

I concur. Some of them are just appalling. Isn't there a road standard or anything? Seems like contractors are building anything they want!

pding

September 2nd, 2007, 06:42 PM

I concur. Some of them are just appalling. Isn't there a road standard or anything? Seems like contractors are building anything they want!

guys, are the bad sections the incompleted ones or is that the state of completed ones too?

Bombay Boy

September 2nd, 2007, 08:57 PM

well in lots of cases the road surface is the only thing thats of good quality. barriers, signages, entries/exits, separation from city/village traffic, etc are quite poor. also you see loads of people driving at full speed in the wrong direction just so that they dont have to go to the next exit and turn from there

cncity

September 3rd, 2007, 07:34 PM

Now, multi-level flyover in Pune

PUNE: The first multi-storied flyover in Pune is set to come up at Nashik Phata chowk on Pune-Mumbai highway.

The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will construct the flyover at an estimated cost of Rs 60-65 crores to reduce congestion at the chowk, said Vijaysinh Deshmukh, PCMC assistant commissioner and head of public relations department.

A bridge across the Pavana river and railway tracks will also be constructed as part of the flyover to enable people from Pimpale Gurav and adjoining areas to reach the Pune-Mumbai and Pune-Nashik highways quickly.

Nashik Phata chowk is the meeting point of Pune-Mumbai and Pune-Nashik highways. It witnesses heavy traffic throughout the day. A flyover here would provide a non-stop drive on the highway between Dapodi and Nigdi.

Officials from the PCMC engineering department said the two-storied flyover would enable commuters to cross the chowk from all four directions without waiting at the traffic signal.

As per the plans, the Pune-Mumbai and Mumbai-Pune traffic will move on the ground level, Mumbai-Nashik and Nashik-Mumbai traffic on the first floor, while the Pune-Nashik traffic will move on the top level

Scrutiny of contractors in the pre-qualification process was in progress, the officials said. The tenders would be allotted soon and the work would take 2.5 to 3 years for completion, they added.

Speaking to TOI, a regular commuter on the two highways, Rohidas Alhat from Bhosari said a flyover was necessary for reducing the traffic congestion at this important and busy chowk in the township. A number of fatal accidents have occurred there, he added.

Another regular commuter, Anand Shinde from Pimpri, said the PCMC should begin the construction immediately to solve the traffic problems at Nashik Phata chowk.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Now_multi-level_flyover_in_Pune/articleshow/2332341.cms

Euromast

September 4th, 2007, 12:32 PM

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 3 : India is set to fully revive its side of the famous Stilwell road of World War II, which stretches across Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and into China and Myanmar.

Expanding the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP) for the Northeast, the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways is adding another 1,200 km to the original plan of 1,310 km. This will include a 32-km stretch on the Stilwell road route into Arunachal Pradesh.

Complete revival of the Stilwell road could provide the shortest land route from India to China. Besides being of strategic importance, this could also help convert the area into a major trade hub of south-east Asia.

“We had started work on 24 km of the Stilwell road in Assam. Arunachal Pradesh, where the remaining stretches of the strategic corridor lie, has now been included in the expanded SARDP-NE, with a 32-km border linkage right
up to Pangsau pass on the Indo-Myanmar border,” said a senior officia

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/214368.html

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/3172/untitledou5.png

Suraj

September 5th, 2007, 06:52 PM

Uttar Pradesh to get 1,000 km expressway (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=27283)
The Uttar Pradesh government today announced building of a 1,000 km, eight-lane expressway connecting Ballia in the east with Noida in the west at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore.

The expressway will be built entirely on private investment and the state government would only act as a facilitator.

The project would cut down the travel time between Varanasi and Delhi by about eight to ten hours.

Sridhar

September 5th, 2007, 06:58 PM

If this and the Taj Expressway get built, UP will have the best expressway network in the country. Let's hope this goes ahead.

pding

September 6th, 2007, 12:51 AM

Uttar Pradesh to get 1,000 km expressway (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=27283)

maybe something like this will propel UP forward. but a question: does UP really have 1000km from its eastern border to the western border? i really doubt it. as an example, the distance between Hyderabad and Delhi is 1600km. now UP is a big state but i really doubt it has 1000km within its eastern and western borders.

Sridhar

September 6th, 2007, 01:23 AM

I think it is an 850kms project, including the main highway + some spurs to connect to some of the major cities which are off the main highway.

September 6th, 2007, 01:26 AM

Euromast had posted about it a week ago in the NCR thread. There it says the main highway would be 850km long. I guess the 1000kms figure includes links to important cities. And yeah,it has been christened the 'Ganga Expressway'

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/5201/29082007002011008qr0rf3.jpg

article from HT

UP CM announces Ganga Expressway (http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=62476757-ac25-4c23-96ea-13a5fdb74c0b&&Headline=UP+CM+announces+Ganga+Expressway)

Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday announced Rs 40,000 crore Ganga Expressway from Ballia to Noida on the left bank of the river Ganga.

The Cabinet on Wednesday gave approval to the 1000 kms long expressway project that is likely to be completed within three years. The central government has already given environmental clearance and the process for the appointment of consultants was underway.

The highway project would connect eastern and western UP and it would prove a boon for Poorvanchal, Mayawati told newsmen in Lucknow on Wednesday. It would also have seven link expressways connecting every region of the state with the main road. "It would boost development in Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand," Mayawati said and added the government would invite private investors to take up the eight-lane expressway. Since it is along the banks of river Ganga, the irrigation department headed by minister Nasimuddin Siddique would be the main government agency.

"Conceived in private sector the government would only be a facilitator," the chief minister said. The project would also help in controlling the perennial problem of flood and land erosion, she said. The farmers would be able to quickly transport perishable farm products to the market, Mayawati said.

The Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said "it would be a toll road" but the viability of the project with such a huge investment could not be only on the basis of toll and the investors would be allowed to develop industrial and commercial hubs and residential colonies along with route. The expressway would run 3 to 5 kms away from the river and irrigation department would provide the land. Ruling out the possibility of any major displacement of people, Singh said the investors would also acquire land under the project.

By January 2008 the chief minister would lay foundation of the project, he said and added the techno-economic feasibility report would be available within the next few months. He said the original cost of the expressway would be Rs 26000 crore and the remaining Rs 14000 crore expenditure would be on other infrastructure development.

The seven link ways would however be developed in the future, the chief minister said. Ganga Expressway would pass through Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Shahjehanpur, Fatehgarh, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Sant Ravidasnagar, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia.

September 6th, 2007, 01:53 AM

NHAI has already started crying http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5954/whinexd5.gif

UP mega road plan to sharply cut NHAI tolls

The National Highways Authority of India is lobbying the Union government about the impact of the proposed UP project on its own roads

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could potentially lose toll revenues on road investments worth Rs3,378 crore spent under the Golden Quadrilateral project in Uttar Pradesh, if the eight-lane expressway proposed by the state chief minister Mayawati between Greater Noida and Ghazipur is completed.
“All of these projects are EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts and the toll is collected by NHAI itself, and it is possible that these stretches may lose some traffic to the new, swankier highway,” says an official in the department, who is associated with some of these projects and did not wish to be identified.

Read On (http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/03002257/UP-mega-road-plan-to-sharply-c.html)

______________

Here's another map from the Telegraph simply connecting Noida and Ballia

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5526/gangaexpresswayql7.jpg

Suraj

September 6th, 2007, 03:16 AM

luked6

September 6th, 2007, 04:57 AM

If the new expressway will save 15 hours from Delhi to Varanasi, how long will it take?

pding

September 6th, 2007, 05:09 AM

Sridhar: wouldn't the Taj Expressway be part of this, considering both have a western terminus at NOIDA ?

pding: Delhi-Patna is ~1100 km. Based on alignment and spurs, 1000km total is not an exaggeration.

The important thing would be getting this built, and integrating eastern UP and Bihar better, so that they develop faster. Of the BIMARU states, MP and Rajasthan are growing well, but (particularly eastern) UP and Bihar need to pick up pace.

I would expect such a major expressway to connect to the capital of the state directly instead of a detour from the highway.

of the BIMARU states, UP is still lagging. Bihar will take time; Nitish has just started cleaning up the mess in that state which has piled over 2 decades of misrule. and yes, MP and Rajasthan are doing well; hopefully the voters will reward their respective govts next year.

sidney_jec

September 6th, 2007, 07:48 AM

An article from The Economic Times

Work on Rs 40kcr Ganga Expressway to start by Feb

WORK on the ambitious 8-lane Ganga Expressway from Noida to Gazipur, which was announced by the Chief Minister Mayawati on completion of her 100 days in power, is likely to begin as early as February 2008. The name of the consultant to be engaged by the state government is in being finalised, and the techno-feasibility report is expected in three months. The private investors, in which the state government would only act as a facilitator, are to be chosen through a transparent competitive bidding process. Officials expect the work to begin as early as January end or February.
Addressing a press conference, chief minister Mayawati said the 1,000-km long, 8-lane expressway from Noida to Ballia would link the prosperous western-most part of the state with the underdeveloped eastern part of UP called Purvanchal. Seven link expressways would also be constructed to join the Ganga Expressway to provide faster mobility and access to the left-out regions.
The Ganga Expressway, to be developed entirely by the private sector, would entail an investment of a whopping Rs 40,000 crore.
Designed for a speed of 120 km/hr, the travel time from Noida to Varanasi. which is about 20-24 hours right now is expected to come down to only 8 hours after the construction of the Ganga Expressway, Ms Mayawati said.
The expressway would begin from Gautam Budhanagar (Noida), and pass through Bulandshahar, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Fathegarh, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Sant Ravi Das Nagar, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Gazipur to Ballia. Mayawati said that the construction of the expressway would not only create massive number of jobs but would also help bring economic prosperity to farmers and businessmen in farthest corners of the state.
Cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said the environmental clearance for the project has been received last month, and they expect the work on the expressway to begin in five months time, which could either be by January end or February 2007.
He said that the expressway would not provide enough economic feasibility for the developer through toll revenue alone and the private players would be allowed to either develop adjoining land areas for industrial, institutional and residential projects. Setting up of industrial areas along the expressway is also proposed.
The expressway would also have facilities like petrol pumps, cyber cafes, food courts and medical facilities along it. He said that the government expects the expressway to be built within three years time but the time limit for its completion has not been decided as yet. He said that the project has dual purposes and besides faster transport facility it would help stop erosion of land and save lakhs of hectares of cultivable land from flooding by building embankments alongside the river Ganga. The expressway would come up on the flood control embankments on the river Ganga much of which already exists and the rest would be constructed.

Bombay Boy

September 6th, 2007, 08:32 AM

good to see indian states getting ambitious. it may or may not end up like they plan, but at least there is some vision

sgups

September 6th, 2007, 08:58 PM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/CST_to_Sion_without_signals_soon/articleshow/2345339.cms

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will invite tenders next week for four flyovers and one elevated road between Byculla and King’s Circle to ensure a signal-free drive for city motorists.

MMRDA officials said construction could start as early as December and hope that these flyovers will be ready within two years. Motorists will be able to drive from CST to Sion without any signals when the flyovers on Ambedkar Road, one of the city’s main arteries, come up, they said. The flyovers will be at Sion hospital junction, King’s Circle junction, Bharatmata cinema Junction, Hindmata junction and a 1.6-km-long elevated road at Dattaram Lad Path, which will go over Lalbaug junction.

The tenders for the projects will be put out in a week’s time and decisions will be taken in the next two months."All approvals will be in place by October end and work should begin by December," said joint commissioner MMRDA, Milind Mahiskar on a positive note.

Mahiskar said that the long elevated road will take 20 months to be completed while the others should be ready earlier.
MMRDA officials said that the whole project will cost Rs 210 crore. The flyovers and the elevated road were part of a slew of 16 flyovers announced with much fanfare last year by chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh. However, while most of them are under construction these five projects could not be taken up due to lack of funds.

The planning for traffic management for the road will have to be done in detail before the work begins as there is heavy traffic on Ambedkar road, said MMRDA officials. MMRDA flyovers and road projects have in the past been plagued with problems thrown up by slum dwellers on either side of the roads. MMRDA officials are quick to point out that these projects do not have the same problems as the road is relatively free of encroachments.

The flyover projects on Dr Babashaeb Ambedkar Road are at:
* Sion Hospital Junction; Length: 589 metres Width: 17.20 metres
* King’s Circle Junction; L: 1097 m W: 17.20 m
* Hindmata Junction; L: 462 m W: 17.20 m
* Bharatmata Cinema Junction; L: 436 m W: 17.20 m
* Elevated road at Dattaram Lad Path; L: 1646 m W: 17.20 m

india

September 10th, 2007, 11:13 PM

Finally!

NHAI to invest Rs 50,000 cr in NE
10 Sep, 2007

AGARTALA: National Highway Authority of India would invest Rs 50,000 crore in the northeast region in the 11th Five Year Plan for increased connectivity with all state capitals.

NHAI would invest Rs 50,000 crore in the 11th Five Year Plan for augmenting capacity of high density corridors which would result in provision of improved four lane national highway link to all state capitals, NHAI director general S K Nirmal told reporters here on Monday

Nirmal, who attended the just concluded three-day seminar 'North-East India' - a gate way to south east Asia, organised by Institution of Engineers, said trans-Asian highways to connect north-east with south east Asian countries should be given priority.

He said alternative national highways to improve inter- region connectivity should be prioritised and all the district headquarters should be connected with such highways.

A team of experts who attended the seminar recommended developing connectivity between Chittagong port in Bangladesh and Haldia port in West Bengal.

The team also recommended linking railways to every capital of the region. At present only Guwahati is connected with railways, while Tripura's capital Agartala is likely to be linked by March next year.

Source: Times of India (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/NHAI_to_invest_Rs_50000_cr_in_NE/articleshow/2355766.cms)