Gadkari releases  first highway capacity manual

New Delhi: The Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari on Monday released India’s first-ever ‘Highway Capacity Manual’ in New Delhi.

The manual, known as the Indo-HCM, has been developed by the CSIR – CRRI on the basis of an extensive, country-wide study of traffic characteristics on different categories  of roads like single-lane, two-lane, multi-lane urban roads,  inter-urban highways, expressways and the associated intersections on these roads, according to a government statement.

The study involved seven academic institutions including the IITs at Roorkee, Mumbai and Guwahati, the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, the Indian Institute of Engineering and Science and Technology, Shibpur, the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Institute of Technology, Surat and the Anna University, Chennai.

The manual lays down guidelines for when and how to expand or manage different types of roads and their intersections and the level of services to be put in place. It has been developed based on the unique nature and diversity of traffic on Indian roads. While countries like the US, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan developed similar manuals a long time ago, this is the first time that such a manual has been developed in India, the statement added.