Bharat Rakshak

Sridhar , I'll get the pic uploaded. On the cost issue, I'm surprised at the cost of 60 crores/km. The MRTS, iirc, cost Rs. 20-30 crore per km and it involved laying major foundations for each pillar pair bcos of the canal etc. The mini-flyovers cost Rs 60 crores totally, I think (not sure) and they would add up to more than 2-3 km totally. What is it that pushes up the cost of a 4 lane elevated thruway so much? Also, why are these structures always prefab concrete? Is it possible to build the whole thing/ parts of it with structural steel? (Phaps a suspension structure) Will it be cheaper that way? Also, I remember that a co called Aerometro proposed something akin to the Skybus project for Chennai in 1991-2. The whole thing was to be in steel and supposedly had only 8 pillars for an 8 km stretch. Wonder what happened?

Karthik,<P>On the cost issue, let me do some calculations to show that the costs of the mini-flyovers and the cost I quoted for the expressway are not very different.<P>There are totally 10 mini-flyovers and the entire project cost was Rs. 60 crores (IIRC it was Rs. 72 crores but I may be wrong and hence I shall take your figure). Eight of these flyovers have effectively two lanes and two have four lanes. Thus, we have the equivalent of roughly about 12 two-lane structures (there are several approximations here since one four lane structure costs less than 2 two-lane structures, but some flyovers have one-lane branches - Adyar for instance - which cost more than a two-lane flyover of equivalent length, so hopefully, in balance this approximation would not be too much off the mark).<P>Thus, the cost per two-lane flyover equivalent is about Rs. 5 crores. Now my figure for 4 lanes was Rs. 60 crore per Km. Thus, the equivalent cost for two lanes is about Rs. 35 crore (assuming a four lane highway costs about 1.75 times a two lane highway). This implies an average length per flyover of 142m, not very much different from the actual average length of these flyovers. Add some more correction factors due to greater level of road furniture for an expressway (for instance New Jersey type crash barriers on the sides and the median, overhead signages, better riding surface) and you would find that the Rs. 60 crore figure is pretty close to the actual. Of course, there would be local differences. And in case there are two different two-lane structures as you have proposed, one over Mount Road and the other over the Beach Road, the costs would go up.<P>The comparison with MRTS is not entirely accurate. The figure of Rs. 20-30 crores is for phase I, and hence it is a historical cost (in the 80s and the first half of the ninetees). Typically, a MRTS-quality elevated structure should cost about as much as a four lane highway, with greater structural requirements roughly compensating for a narrower carriageway. I have not checked but I suspect that the MRTS Phase II figures should be more than Rs. 60 crores per Km since it is over the canal. IIRC, it is about 11 Km in Phase II, that would imply a cost of Rs. 660 crore. I think the actual costs are more than this, not less.<P>As for a steel-frame highway, there are firstly issues of sound pollution. Secondly, they need supports on both sides, a narrow median pillar supporting a four-lane road is close to impossible. Thirdly, it is costlier to maintain and requires a more rigorous inspection schedule. Fourthly, they look ugly. Fifthly, I am not sure they are cheaper to build. Why go for a 19th century technology when we have better and cheaper technology available.

Karthik:<P>A link for the cost of MRTS Phase II<BR> <A HREF="http://docs.vircomnet.com/mobility/public_transport_vc/Integration.html" TARGET=_blank>http://docs.vircomnet.com/mobility/public_transport_vc/Integration.html</A> <P>Cost of MRTS Phase II (1997-98 prices) : Rs. 733 crores<P>Subtract cost of 10 stations @Rs. 5 crore each (a guess) : Rs. 50 crore<P>Cost of carriageway : Rs. 683 crores<BR>Length : 11.2 Km<P>Cost per Km ('97-98 prices) : Rs. 61 crore per Km<P>Cost per Km ('00-01 prices) : Rs. 72 crores<BR>(assuming a 6% inflation)<P><B>Q.E.D.</B>

Uh huh. Thanks, Sridhar! Also, Are there any state projects for quad/ 6 lane highways currently underway? (and not a part of the GQ/ NSEW projects) There were a few mentioned in this thread, but I was unable to get any concrete info/ photos. I understand that AP govt is quad laning a few roads, TN govt built a few ring roads , but anything in the north? I remember there being 4 lane stretches in Gujarat as early as 1995, is the state working on anything now? The Bangalore -Mysore highway project doesnt appear to have kicked off, with the govt seemingly undecided between a limited access highway built by NICE and quad laning the existing road itself. Any info?<P>Also, some news on Garden City Skyway: Apparently, the main span is complete, the access ramps are almost done. They are now connecting a couple of flyovers to the bridge from the Ring Road.

Karthik<P>Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar road is 4 lane (I think, I don't remember for sure). The first BOT 4-lane SH in the country was the Baroda-Halol expressway. The state has also awarded the contract for four laning of the Ahmedabad Mehsana State Highway on BOT basis to an L&T led consortium. (see the L&T link in one of my posts on the first page of this thread for more details). The other projects are all in the conceptualization stage (Ahmedabad-Gandhidham for instance).<P>TN: The ring roads that you mention are all two lane roads though the Coimbatore bypass is a high quality L&T-built BOT road. The East Coast Road has already been talked about on this thread and only a small stretch on it would be four-laned.<P>AP: Has secured a loan from the World Bank (the first one to any project in India after the 1998 sanctions) for the State Highway Improvement Project. Several state highways are in the plan but no substantial work has started yet. I wonder why this is going slow since funding was the major hurdle.

The Salem Ring road was 4 lane. The Coimbatore and Krishnagiri "bypasses" were 2 lane, as you'd pointed out. I thought there were 4 lane ring roads around Madurai and Thiruchchirappalli, I guess I was mistaken. Thanks for the gen on Gujarat! How about Mumbai-'Nagpur, Mumbai-Nashik and Mumbai-Ahmednagar? Thought there were expressway plans for all these segments.

The Salem bypass is part of the NSEW project (though it might have been constructed earlier, I am not sure). Madurai is definitely two lane. Dunno about Trichy.<P>The MSRDC projects are going nowhere because the State Govt. is broke.

To increase the toll collection on mumbai-pune road, the GOI could make it mandatory<BR>for cross-country truck traffic to use it<BR>instead of slinking along other roads slyly.<P>I figure it will work out cheaper for truckers too as they can avoid the local<BR>thanedars collecting chanda.<P>Similarly for the 4-laned GQ and EWNS.

Anurag, the Garden City Skyway will be opened in Feb 2002, according to today's Indian Express. (Couldnt find the link). It will have 4 access ramps (each of which is as big as a conventional "flyover") and terminate in a 6 lane road , which will lead to Hoskote. <P>WRT Tolls, I wonder how the rates are fixed. I assume that they are done on the basis of total project cost and its amortisation in 20-30 yrs. The cost/ yr is perhaps divided by the no of current PCUs to give the amounts. However, since this too steep, very few PCUs use the roads.<P>I was wondering if a different mechanism could be employed. Consider this example. Today, I commute from J P Nagar to Koramangala thru the ring road, a 10 km route which takes 1/2 hour to cover. The engine is turning for the entire 1/2 hour period, due to traffic jams, slow movement etc. Effective mileage in the city will therefore be very low : ~8-9 kpl. Therefore, cost of driving 1 way will be ~Rs. 35. <P>Now, if there's a limited access highway from J P Nagar to Koramangala, the distance will be slightly higher (Need to get onto/ off the highway etc), say 12 km. However, I'll be driving at a constant 60 kph speed (Say) throughout the stretch. The mileage will drastically improve (Typically in a small car, it will be 15-16 kpl). The travel time will also reduce to 12 min.The cost of travelling 1 way will be 12/16X30 = Rs. 22.5. Therefore, the car owner can save nearly Rs. 12.5 each way, i.e. Rs. 25 per day. <P>A good way tocharge toll will be to sell the road user the fact that s/he is saving Rs. 25 per day using the tollway , as well as 36 minutes of travel time each day.+ huge amounts on wear and tear of clutch plates, tyres, brake pads and even tranny oil.<P>The toll therefore can be fixed at 40-50% of the customer's savings on the petrol alone,ie Rs 5-Rs 6 each way.The user will feel benefited as he is still saving on Petrol+ Wear and Tear + time.<P>Another way may be to strike a deal with corporates, wherein the company gives me an Ezpass for the commute in lieu of the conveyance allowance. We can point out the savings in the conveyance allowance as well as in the time (employees reporting late due to traffic jam etc) to the cos. <P>Such deals will increase the no of PCUs using the tollways and may at least enhance the toll collection, though imho it is very difficult to run a tollway profitably. Thoughts?

Delhi-Gurgaon expressway to be kicked off in March<BR> <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1301360638" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1301360638</A>

Hi, sorry I didnt post this for long, was distracted by the parliament thing. <P><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/s_jraman/map.gif" TARGET=_blank>Map showing suggested one-way elevated expressway for Chennai</A><P>Comments will be appreciated. The red lines denote 3 lane one-way elevated expressways and the green lines denote 2 lane elevated link roads. These will take up very limited road space as they are fully elevated and will be connected to terra firma by ramps off spurs. The direction of travel is indicated by the black arrows.<P>Given Sridhar's cost estimate of Rs 60 crores per km, at least 1 section (the inbound section on beach road) can be built on the surface itself, by stealing land from the govt establishments along beach road, and lifting the sections at major intersections only. This may bring costs down. (However, on no account should the beach be touched)

Golden Quadrilateral to yield Rs 8,000cr<BR> <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1005641501" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1005641501</A>

Got some info on Gujarat Highway development programmes. Quite a few state roads to be quad-laned/ 2 laned-with-shoulder, it appears. Good for them, if they keep the schedules.<P><A HREF="http://www.gidb.org/SRoads/projects_implemented.htm#1" TARGET=_blank>Gujarat Roadway projects</A>

See, what’s on the block?<BR> <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=2040381398" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=2040381398</A>

Karthik:<P>Saw your plan for the Chennai-South West divided expressway. It might make sense and see the light of day sometime in the future. There is one bottleneck though and a solution needs to be found to that. And that is the San Thome cathedral on Beach Road. Cannot be widened and cannot even accomodate an elevated road of three lane width without causing an even more severe bottleneck underneath. Secondly, the Beach is a heritage zone and I am not sure an elevated highway there (or on surface on the grounds of the beachfront properties) would or even should get environmental/INTACH clearance. The usual tussle between environment/heritage and development would ensue.<P>In response to your post on tolling, that IMHO is the right way of marketing toll roads, particularly to regular users like transporters (truckers). I think the Noida Toll Bridge Company is already using this sales pitch (I posted a link to an article on this earlier in this thread). The Mumbai-Pune expressway also used this pitch when setting the toll rates initially but AFAIK has not marketed the expressway in this fashion.

BANGALORE, DEC. 18. Work on the Rs. 2,030-crore World Bank-aided project to upgrade 2300 km. of State highways to national highway standards will commence before January 15, 2002<BR> <A HREF="http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2001121903000300.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2001121903000300.htm</A> <P>Upgrade Costs: Roughly 1 crore per km

Uh huh. The San thome area is definitely a bottleneck. If the Church can sacrifice some of its front garden, and some of the shanties alongside are knocked down, maybe. (But of course, the TN govt never had the "Dhill" to even try knocking down private property). WRT the beach road stretch, it may still be possible to do most of the h'way w/o major visual damage. Consider this. There is huge unused frontal area for teh AIR bldg, the DC office, Queen Mary's college , Presidency College, DD Kendra etc.part of which can be used to lay a non-elevated deck. This can be done pretty neatly, with a bougainvillea hedge (like the one on MG road, Bangalore) etc to make it look un-cementish. Only problem area will be MAdras University/ TNPCB section, where bldgs abut the road. Phaps the h'way can be looped behidn these,alongside the MRTS. It may end up like Lakeshore drive @Chicago, which I thought was a pretty neat stretch, though it could be tough to drive on, due to the bends. If I remember right, the speed limits drop to 35 mph on the stretch. (Which is still OK for Chennai, where the avg speed now is like 10 kph!)

Mumbaiites/kars will agree with me that the opening of this flyover will be like clearing up a clogged artery.<BR> <A HREF="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_ID=1597199832" TARGET=_blank>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_ID=1597199832</A> <P><B>Andheri flyover: 15 more days to go</B><P>TIMES NEWS NETWORK <BR> <BR>MUMBAI: Two weeks after the expiry of the December 5 deadline, state public works department officials refused to fix a date for the opening of the Andheri flyover but said the work ``would take another fortnight at least''. PWD minister of state Vasudha Deshmukh had told the assembly that the flyover would be handed over to the department by December 31.<P>.... more at the link above

If you want elevated highway along a waterfront, look at Toronto on lake ontario.<BR>Canada'a major highway queen elizabeth expressway starts from niagara, goes through toronto in a elevated section and then north-east to ottawa. There are ramps and smaller roads below to get in and out of city.

I think it is time for the creation of the Highway/State Trooper category for the Indian states, starting with Maharashtra.<P>Fatalities mount on Mumbai-Pune expressway <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1388400427" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1388400427</A> <P>India, Myanmar, Thailand plan to take up Asia Highway project <BR> <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=2042882810" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=2042882810</A>

once you start steadily cruising at 100kmph+<BR>the tyre pressure builds to +5psi from the cold temp. the cheap tires that our manufacturers use cannot take the strain consistently.<P>time to introduce S or T rated tires that<BR>are designed for about 100mph. ofcourse for<BR>the tough lot, Z rated (190mph) low-profile<BR>pirelli tires <P>western cars also have speed-sensitive power<BR>steering that deaden the input at higher<BR>speeds. you dont want slight tug on wheel<BR>to take you 20' off line...and power steering<BR>also helps with the wrestling needed.<P>Yessir with the new NHAI and other projects<BR>time for<P>-front airbags<BR>-speed sensitive power steering<BR>-S/T rated tires<BR>-better safety crash certification<BR>-seatbelts mandatory<P>I personally would be very scared to drive<BR>a maruti at 100kmph dodging between trucks<BR>and fast ninja-type bikers.

As if on cue,<BR>SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIRECTS STATES TO ENSURE SAFETY IN VEHICLES<P> <A HREF="http://www.pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2001/rdec2001/26122001/r261220011.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2001/rdec2001/26122001/r261220011.html</A> <P>SC has directed immediate enforcement of wearing of seat belts in the front seats. Further, GoI is making the wearing of seat belts in the rear seats compulsory from Oct. 2002. The key issues however are<BR>1. Most vehicles in the country do not have any seat belts at all. For the last couple of years, all new cars have front seat belts. But not in trucks, jeeps etc.<BR>2. There are very few cars (only the higher end cars and not all of them either) that have rear seat belts.<BR>3. Even in cars that do have seat belts, it is hard to make people to wear them. <P>There needs to be a massive two pronged effort of educating drivers and penalizing defaulters if there is to be any progress on this.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vick:<BR><STRONG>Fatalities mount on Mumbai-Pune expressway <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1388400427" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1388400427</A> </STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Tyres do play an important role, but road discipline also is important. Has anyone cruised the Mumbai Pune highway at 100+ kmph? It gets real scary when other guys travelling at the same speed DO NOT maintain road discipline, and drive on 2 lanes, with the divider markings under their centreline. Specially on the curves, when cars tend to wander off their lanes, and you start cursing and hit the brakes. I think some guys actually think the lane dividers are markings to centre your vehicle on.

Another article on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway<P> <A HREF="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=744208106" TARGET=_blank>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=744208106</A>

An article on NHDP from Business today Dec. 09 edition (Subscription site)<P><B>Golden Example</B><P>The ambitious National Highway Development Project could provide a lesson or two on how government projects should be run. And the outlay of Rs 54,000 crore should keep the Keynesians happy.<P>By Ashish Gupta <P>Beat this for scale: 13,151 kilometres of road to be constructed; a project cost of Rs 54,000 crore; and 130 contracts, worth Rs 18,000 crore, awarded thus far.<P>Beat this for span: When complete, one part of the project, the Golden Quadrilateral will connect Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi. Another, the North-South East-West Corridor will link Srinagar to Kanyakumari, and Silchar to Porbandar.<P>Beat this for historical value: In the first fifty years post independence India saw the construction of around 13,000 kilometres of national highways. This project will, over the next eight years, see the construction of 13,151 kilometres of national highways.<P>And beat this for stun-value: the completion date of the GG has been moved up from December 2004 to December 2003; that of the N-S&E-w Corridor from December 2009 to December 2007. And a report prepared by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter says, ''The current pace of execution of the GG project shows a degree of commitment not usually associated with government projects.''<P>There's nothing Kiplingesque about the Grand Trunk Road, Sher Shah Suri's contribution to Indian locomotion, at Hapur, a dusty little town barely 80 minutes away from Delhi by road.<P>A few minutes from town, the road branches, one shoot takes a gradual curve up a slope and then, suddenly, comes to an end in a jumble of tractors, graders, excavators, and construction workers. Their immediate objective is to convert the narrow road they are on into a four-lane highway connecting Ghaziabad and Lucknow and to build a 50-metre-long overpass on the road connecting Hapur to Aligarh.<P>The overpass is half done, and standing precariously close to the edge, G. Umakant, a deputy project manager for KNR Constructions Ltd, is firing instructions to the army of workers below.<P>Work would have ended by December, he rues, had it not been for some villagers of Hapur who, unhappy with the compensation they've received for their land, filed a complaint with the local administrator. Umakant, a 32-year-old civil engineer from Andhra Pradesh who is already a veteran of several government projects, hopes the issue will be resolved soon enough for him to meet his January 2002 deadline.<P>But predictable gripes over land-acquisition are only minor hiccups in India's most ambitious infrastructure project since independence.<P>Christened the National Highway Development Project, the initiative seeks to build 13,151 kilometres of six-lane (or four-lane) highways and has the blessings of the highest office in the land. ''These projects will not only change the face of road transport in India, they will have a lasting impact on the economy,'' says Major-General B.C. Khanduri, the minister of state in charge of road transport and highways.<P><B>No fullstops on this highway</B><P>Ignore, for a minute, the bullishness MSDW has shown over the project; try and forget that the completion dates of the project have been brought forward (what's brought forward can always be pushed back); and look at the other facts.<P>One, that most of the finances for the project have already been tied up. ''The Cabinet has cleared expenditure worth Rs 30,300 crore for the first two years; there is therefore no need to run to it for every extra paisa we need,'' says Khanduri.<P>Financial closure would mean there is no danger of the project suffering the malaise most common to government initiatives: suffering time and cost overruns simply because the required money didn't come in at the right time.<P>Two, that contracts for six-laning 4,000 kilometres of the highways have already been awarded, a revolution, no less, when the government's track record-in past projects part-funded by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank the norm is five-to-six years-is taken into consideration.<P>''We have already taken care of the most difficult part in the GG project, the awarding of contracts,'' says Deepak Dasgupta, the chairman of nhai.<P>Three, that work is already apace: 130 contracts have been awarded. By August 31, 2001, work had been completed on 987 kilometres out of the 5,851 kilometres that constitute the GG; work on another 3,803 kilometres is afoot; and contracts for the remaining 1,305 kilometres are to be awarded by December 2001. Of the n-s and e-w corridor's coverage of 7,300 kilometres, work has been completed on 675 kilometres and is progressing on another 739.<P>Contracts for the remainder are to be issued between 2002 and 2005. ''By awarding contracts nearly two years in advance, the government is ensuring that there is enough time for private players to complete their projects,'' says Dasgupta. To accelerate things, the government has indicated its willingness to lend up to 40 per cent of the cost involved for those private companies and contractors who have undertaken parts of the project on a Build-Operate-Transfer (private companies or contractors build the roads, operate them for a certain period of time-the duration depends on the project in question-and then transfer the roads to the government) basis. Then, there are bonuses for contractors who complete work ahead of schedule and fines for those who overrun their schedules.<P>That could explain why Khanduri, a 67-year-old civil engineer from the Military Training College, Pune, is confident that things are well in control. ''We will prove that despite being a government agency, we can complete projects on time.''<P><I><BR>Return On Roads<BR> <BR>The government has worked out some innovative schemes to ensure private companies don't get short-changed and work goes on.<P>The BoT Toll-Based Scheme: The toll works out to Rs 0.40 a km for cars, Rs 0.70 a km for light commercial vehicles and Rs 1.40 a km for trucks and buses. The government has already tied up the BoT toll-based scheme for three major stretches, the Tada-Nellore stretch (120 km), the Tumkur-Neelamangala Kishangarh railway over bridge (32 km), and the Durg bypass. The value of the total projects cleared amounts to Rs 1,000 crore.<P>The BoT Annuity Scheme: For companies unwilling to burn their fingers through the toll system, the government has worked out an annuity-based scheme. While the private operator builds and operates the road, the toll is collected by the government. And the government pays them a regular amount for the next 15 years. The government has already cleared five stretches (projects valued at Rs 1,550 crore) for the annuity scheme. These include the Rajamundry-Dharmavaram (54 km) stretch and the Dharmavaram-Tuni (46 km) one.<P>The NHAI SPV: The Ministry has also worked out a novel mechanism to leverage NHAI funds to set up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for projects like the Moradabad bypass and the Ahmedabad-Vadodra Expressway. Under the scheme, the nhai puts in a certain amount of equity into the SPV with or without a partner and uses this equity to raise money from the market. The money is to be paid back from the future toll revenues.<BR></I><P><B>The wallet's taken care of</B><BR> <BR>There isn't a thread out of place in the government's financial closure strategy for this project. Out of the Rs 54,000 crore required over 8 years (1999 to 2007), Rs 20,000 crore will come from the Re 1 cess imposed on every litre of petrol or diesel sold in India post February 1998; an equal sum will come through soft loans from the World Bank and ADB; Rs 10,000 crore will come from bonds (exempt from capital gains tax) issued by nhai; and Rs 4,000 crore from private sector companies who participate in the scheme under the BoT arrangement.<P>Are these numbers achievable? Well an amount of Rs 16,846 crore (See graph Funding Arrangement NHDP Phase-I) has already been mobilised from the cess and from market borrowings; an additional Rs 7,862 crore has come in as loan from the World Bank and ADB; and private sector companies have already been awarded contracts worth Rs 2,860 crore of the Rs 4,000 crore they were expected to.<P>Will the private companies participating in the project get at least the market rate of return on their investments? To ensure that this happens the government has worked out three alternative schemes: the BoT-toll based scheme; the BoT-annuity based scheme; and the nhai special vehicle programme (See Return On Roads).<P><B>The impact on the economy</B><P>The project is a Keynesian dream come true. A feasibility study conducted by the National Highways Authority of India shows that the multiplier effect of such a massive investment could be huge.<P>The project will provide employment to 40 individuals per km per day (in other words, it will generate employment of 7.3 crore mandays a year). And it will require 99 lakh metric tonnes of cement and 8.6 lakh metric tonnes of steel.<P>The real benefit, however, lies in the speedier transportation of goods. Inter-metro freight accounts for 60-70 per cent of total road-freight in India.<P>The GG is expected to cut the time taken to move goods from one metro to another by between 50 per cent and 60 per cent. Says a senior official in the ministry of road transport and highways: ''Today, it takes between three to three-and-a-half days for a truck to go from Delhi to Kolkata; once the GG is done, it will take just one-and-a-half days.''<P>Then, there are benefits that will accrue in the form of lower vehicle operating costs, reduced fuel consumption, and less wastage (of perishables). According to a World Bank report, the completion of the GG would mean an annual saving of Rs 8,000 crore. Now, if they could only solve that minor bottleneck near Hapur.

Crossposting from another thread---<P><A HREF="http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fname=Opening+Essay+%28F%29&fodname=20020114&sid=9" TARGET=_blank>A new work efficiency, and easy funding, promises to give us what we've always only dreamt of— 6,000 km of velvety asphalt to zip on endlessly </A>

Article in today's Express:<BR>Kerala to go all out for rubberised bitumen roads. Apparently a test program revealed 30% improvement in life. 15000 tons of rubberised bitumen already ordered for this year. Should give big boost to the local rubber industry, I s'pose. <P>Some qns:<BR>Can rubberised bitumen withstand high temps like summers in Rajasthan/ AP? <P>What is the specific reason for longevity?<P>Is it cheaper/ Costlier? <P>Does Kerala have any major roadway project, considering its now a global top 10 tourist spot?

Shocking images from the Mumbai Pune Expressway (vehicle stopped, cow crossing, woman crossing).<P> <A HREF="http://www.chalomumbai.com/asp/article.asp?cat_id=29&art_id=5263&cat_code=2F574841545F535F4F4E5F4D554D4241492F5441415A415F4B4841424152&name=expressway" TARGET=_blank>http://www.chalomumbai.com/asp/article.asp?cat_id=29&art_id=5263&cat_code=2F574841545F535F4F4E5F4D554D4241492F5441415A415F4B4841424152&name=expressway</A> <P>Wonder when the fence would be completed and safety given the priority it deserves.

Sridhar, does'nt that link suggest there is a high linear direct relationship with people education and road sense. I can only wish!

'A new work efficiency, and easy funding, promises to give us what we've always only dreamt of— 6,000 km of velvety asphalt to zip on endlessly'<BR> <A HREF="http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=9&fodname=20020114&fname=Opening+Essay+%28F%29" TARGET=_blank>http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=9&fodname=20020114&fname=Opening+Essay+%28F%29</A>

Four-lane corridors, GQ to be completed before time, says Khanduri<P>Four-laning of the national highways connecting the four metros and building two corridors across the country, being undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), would be completed much ahead of schedule, Union minister for road transport and highways B C Khanduri said. <P>While the construction of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), originally scheduled for completion by December 2004, had been advanced to December 2003, the four-lane corridors linking Silchar with Porbandar and Srinagar with Kanyakumari would be completed by end of 2007 instead of the earlier schedule of 2009, Khanduri told newsmen here. <P>A whopping Rs 54,000 crore was being invested in the two projects comprising a total distance of over 13,000 km. The GQ connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata comprised 5,952 km while the two corridors would span over 7,300 km (Srinagar-Kanyakumari 4,000 km and Silchar-Porbandar 3,300 km). <P>So far, work on about 1,000 km of the GQ, expected to cost Rs 25,050 crore and 700 km of the corridors, estimated to cost about Rs 29,000 crore, had been completed, Khanduri said. Under the project, about 516 km road in Orissa would be developed into four-lane by spending Rs 2,000 crore within the next two years, he said.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jkarthik:<BR><STRONG>Article in today's Express:<BR>Does Kerala have any major roadway project, considering its now a global top 10 tourist spot?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I don't think Kerala has any project currently. But it is ideally suited for a good expressway which would be less costly compared to other states. That is because of its narrow coastal geography, because of which one North-South expressway would connect every important city. The NHDP would connect Cochin to the NS highway at Salem. Trivandrum can be easily connected to Kanyakumari.<P>Karthik, I have a question about Bangalore's Outer Ring Road. What are the intersections with major roads/highways like? Do they have signals or are there interchanges? Does it have service roads or do the establishments by the side of it open directly onto the highway?

To answer that, let me divvy up the ring road into 4 quadrants. <P>The southwest quadrant runs from Mysore Road to Hosur road. It begins well, broad, fast and smooth till it reaches Hosakerehalli. Thereon, its basically a city road, lots of intersections, hajaar cross traffic etc. <P>The road passes Banashankari and J P Nagar and ends on BannerGhatta road, where one needs to turn left (cop signal). Following this, one needs to make a right (elec signal) to get back onto the ring road, which continues till the hosur road intersection. <P>There is a small service road section near Hosakerehalli. Service roads are also present on Bannerghatta road portion and one section near BTM, though they are useless bcos the sideroads intersect the service road and open out onto the ring road anyway!<P>Hosur road junction is presently an elec signal, but is being made into a grade separator (underpass). <P>The south east quadrant is a stretch of heaven, beginning from Hosur road and ending in Old MAdras road. On this stretch, Sarjapur road merges smoothly and splits rather messily to the right (its a circle, where the ring road turns left ,actually). The stretch after this is pretty much freeway, with a really neat underpass interchange at Whitefield-Airport road Jn and a huge underpass-overpass complex interchange with 4 ramps (each of which is a mini-flyover!), which connect with the Garden City Skyway , at the Old madras road junction. Service roads are present throughout the stretch. The stupid part of this stretch is that some one-lane rural roads intersect the ring road. No overpass or underpass, direct intersection. Worse, some idiot looked the wrong way when crossing the road here and became part of the tarmac, following which the "irate" local residents put up 2 speed breakers!!!!!! (I shed raththakkanneer (tears of blood) whenever I ride over these!) . But for this patch, it is possible to do 100-110 kph on this stretch. <BR>The north east quadrant is pretty decent, with a huge cloverleaf interchange being built at Hebbal (for the Bellary - Hyderabad road)The speed is lower in this stretch bcos of heavy traffic, though. After the Hebbal interchange, the ring road terminates at Tumkur road in a signal junction. <P>The north-west quadrant (Tumkur road to Mysore road) is still under construction.

Thanks jkarthik.

Perfect Bihari istyle <p>http://www.ndtv.com/<p>Mafia gangs threaten PM's dream project
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<p>Manuwant Choudhary <p>Saturday, January 12, 2002 (Patna):<p>
Mafia gangs in Bihar are holding hostage Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream road project, the Golden Quadrilateral. Many of them are demanding work contracts, even threatening multinationals in the area. As a result, work on the projects has virtually stopped.<p>The plan is to connect the four corners of the country with highways and also to upgrade the existing highways. But gangs of contractors in league with criminals with political links are demanding multinationals like LG working on road projects to hand contracts to them. <p>S K Bedi, GM, LG & CE Constructions, said, "Each one of them talks big. You cannot differentiate how serious the threats are because everyone comes and says he will shoot and burn down the project." <p>LG has now demanded more security both from the Centre and the state government and the Planning Commission has also recommended a central inquiry into the threats.<p>Abdul Bari Siddiqqi, Bihar Road minister, said, "If we get news of any obstructions we will use our administration to take strong action." <p>Work has already been delayed on the 45 km stretch on National Highway No.2., which is supposed to be completed by the year 2004. Now projects like these may not be able to meet their deadlines.

When on expressway, check your tyres<p>http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1952869682<p>My question: Are these tire bursts causing damage to the roadways?

From business world.
http://www.businessworldindia.com/eco1.htm<p>The article will go away. So.....<p>Paving The (High)way For Private Players <p>Next time you drive down from Kotputli to Amer on NH8, beware! Someone is watching you. On a pilot basis, an advanced highway traffic management system (HTMS) has been put in place on this 86-km stretch. The system has a central control room -- the nerve centre of the HTMS -- at Shahpura. Connected to this, through optical fibre transmission systems, are emergency call box systems (installed every 2 km), mobile communication systems (cranes, ambulances and highway patrol), variable message signs and a close-circuit TV surveillance (CCTV) system (which can track traffic movement and snarls). Two units of highway patrol, with personnel drawn from the Rajasthan police, have been engaged to operate in eight-hour shifts. The units have been provided with Maruti Gypsys fitted with wireless, mikes, siren and patrol lighting. An ambulance is also available from the Shahpura police station. A 15-tonne pick-and-carry crane, contracted from a private agency, will clear the road of stalled and accident vehicles. Travellers will be informed about any traffic hold-ups through the variable-messaging sign system mounted electronically at suitable distances. "Different messages will be displayed for information to road users," explains Deepak Dasgupta, chairman, NHAI. The system also has a weather monitoring and automatic traffic counting system. The former will provide metereological data including humidity, rain and storm conditions. The system has been installed by Siemens on a contract to run it for one year. A toll plaza has been constructed at Manoharpur, with a total of 10 service lanes. On the cards is a proposal to dispense with the manual system for toll collection and to install a semi-automatic system for toll collection that would be connected to a server at a toll office through a local area network. The NHAI is, for the first time, looking at privatising management of the highways. It is proposed that private companies will be asked to operate and maintain the roads that have been constructed by the NHAI. Says the minister of state for roads, B.C. Khanduri: "We are trying to develop the concept of corridor management. The idea is to offer all kinds of facilities on a corridor of the highway and install an advanced traffic management system for travellers." This, he argues, can be done profitably by a private player, thereby reducing the burden on the NHAI. "We will try and get a private sector player(s) to run this (Kotputli-Amer) and other systems on more stretches. Road users must feel that roads are a service. Of course, in turn, they must be willing to pay for the service," he adds. The private operator will be asked to install the tolling systems and collect toll on behalf of the NHAI. For this, a certain percentage will be given to the operator. The operator will be required to ensure that the road is closed for a minimum period of time, that advanced communication systems are put in place and wayside amenities are developed.

Slightly off-topic:<p>Does anyone have any information about India's efforts/progress to bring Formula 1 to its soil ? Bernie Ecclestone had visited India a few times, but has anything become of it ?

Abhaey,<p> I would love for an F1 track too. Micheal Shumacher racing in india, sounds farfetched but it could happen. Last I heard was that they were making an F1 track in Kolkatta but they had a cigarette company sponsor s they could no complete it.. I will keep looking for News on that. THe India Grand Prix. Hopefully we can get one soon.