GUWAHATI: National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to develop 57 highway stretches across the country near the state capital areas as model roads.
About 1735 kms of total national highway stretches will be developed in the process.
This development will help to educate the highway engineers as well as the state PWD officers. The model stretches will have all the required safety and aesthetic features like road signs, road markings, road furniture, and safety items, proper junctions and entry/ exit apart from having functional drains, pedestrian facilities, street lighting, plantation and landscaping, elegant toll plazas, user facilities, and wayside amenities. CCTV cameras will be installed at all vulnerable locations and there will be no black spots to avoid accidents and for other eco-friendly measures.
As per the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, the said stretches, when developed "will look like a perfect textbook version of model road".
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NHAI has issued guidelines to help the regional offices and project directors to plan the development and complete in a timely manner.
Amongst the 57 stretches identified for development is the NH37 bypass in Guwahati from Saraighat Bridge to Khanapara.
Alok Kumar, Regional Officer at the National Highway Authority of India said, "We already had plans to develop five 6-lane flyovers on the bypass. And this new model road concept will be included in that. Work on the same will be commenced as soon as the rain season is over, around October."
The 18kms long bypass had been seeing major traffic congestion on a daily basis prior to lockdown and NHAI had earlier said that construction of the much-needed flyovers were to start from October 2019.
