NEW DELHI: The central government on Monday released the country’s first-ever highway capacity
manual (
HCM), which sets objective norms for assessing the performance of roads and specifying when to start their expansion.
This will end the tradition of political leaders taking “whimsical” decisions on giving priority to certain roads for expansion due to political compulsions.
Many countries have HCMs, including India’s neighbours. The US got one in 1950. One of the main aims of the manual is calculating the quality of service of stretches such as highways, arterial roads, roundabouts, signalised and unsignalised intersections. Launching the manual prepared by
Central Road Research Institute in association with eight premier academic institutes, Union road transport and highways minister
Nitin Gadkari said this would help in the scientific planning and expansion of road infrastructure.
The manual specifies the formula for undertaking expansion, taking into account a mix of the number of vehicles plying on a stretch and the level of service of that road.
