(a) whether the Government proposes four lanning of all the National Highways of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the four lane national highways in the country at present number-wise, State-wise; and
(d) the present number of national highways which are not four laned along with the details thereof, State-wise?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
(SHRI PON. RADHAKRISHNAN)
(a) and (b) The total number of road accidents in the country during 2015 was about 5,01,423 which resulted into about 1,46,133 numbers of persons killed. The National Highways (NHs) accounted for about 29.1 % share of total road accidents and 35.0 % of total persons killed. Although the existing NHs comprise of about 1.9 % of total road network, they carry about 40% of total road traffic.
Keeping in view the requirements to enhance Road Safety, reduce congestions, improve road connectivity / conditions, the Ministry has taken decision to augment the NHs Network of existing 1,13,298 km. About 57,500 km length of State Roads have been approved “In-Principle” for their declaration as new NHs subject to outcome of their Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and initiatives have been taken for their DPR preparations. Further, the Ministry has reduced threshold traffic for 4-laning of NHs from 15,000; 11,000; and 8,000 Passenger Car Units (PCUs) per day to 10,000; 8,500 and 6,000 PCUs/day for Plain, Rolling, and Mountainous/Steep Terrains respectively. Decisions have been taken to entrust 4-laning of all such NHs to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for their implementation through additional market borrowings, etc., in a phased manner by leveraging limited available budgetary allocation. About 5,575 km length of NHs have been identified accordingly for their upgradations to 4 / 6 lane standards by NHAI and process have been initiated for their DPR preparations.
(c) and (d) The State / Union Territory (UT)-wise and lane-wise distribution of NH length is annexed.