Ministry weighs fenced-off highways within easy reach
NEW DELHI : India will have a wide network of fenced-off highways and expressways in the next 10-15 years that will allow commuters to get on to them by travelling no more than 100 km from wherever they begin their journey, a top road ministry official said. According to road transport and highways secretary Anuraj Jain, the ministry is finalizing a new Vision 2047 programme, with a focus on building an extensive network of greenfield “access-controlled" expressways. The network of roads will provide smoother and faster connectivity, especially along the economic corridors, border regions and far-flung areas, and help reduce the logistics cost in the country.
Access-controlled roads are fenced off with railings along their length, so no one can enter them randomly. Not all highways in India are fenced off— many are allowed to run through towns and cities without any barriers on the two sides. “We started building expressways on a large scale for the first time under Bharatmala programme.
Later, a study under Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP) suggested that building greenfield expressways would benefit substantially in reducing logistics cost in the country. So, under Vision 2047, we are looking at a network of greenfield access-controlled highways," Jain said “The Vision is that in every 200 km grid you have an access-controlled highway. What this means is that anywhere in the country about 100 km on either direction of your travel, you will hit an access-controlled highway.
And once this is available, suddenly the logistic parameters become good," he added. The ministry’s Vision 2047 programme has already been presented to the council of ministers. Specific projects under it would be separately approved
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