Question : Condition of Golden-Quadrilateral

(a) whether the Government is aware that a safety study conducted by World Bank and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has stated that thirty per cent of Delhi-Mumbai and half of the Mumbai-Chennai stretches of the Golden-Quadrilateral is unsafe for cars, buses and trucks;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(c) the main findings of the said study along with the reaction of the Government thereto;

(d) the total length of the National Highways to be constructed under the Golden-Quadrilateral Project along with the details of NHs constructed so far; and

(e) the details of the funds provided by the Government for the said project along with its utilization reported so far?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA)

(a)&(b) The iRAP study provides star rating of the road sections considering more than 50 parameters of the road cross-section and geometry. iRAP studied approximately 1397.4 km of Delhi-Mumbai corridor and about 1318.3 km of Mumbai-Chennai corridor. It was found out that 30% of the length was having less than 3-star rating (where 5-star means safest and 1-star means unsafe). Similarly, for Mumbai-Chennai corridor 50% of the length was found to be of less than 3-star rating.

The reasons due to which these corridors were rated as such are absence of facilities for crossing / plying of pedestrians and non-motorized traffic, movement of traffic at more than a designated speed on intersections etc.

(c) The iRAP study observed that very high proportion of the curves have hazardous road sides for the operating speed on the Highways (Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Chennai Corridors). It has also been observed by the study that both the corridors have very high traffic volume with more than 20% of two wheeler traffic which demanded segregation for safety purpose. The report has been shared with the concerned officials to undertake specific counter measures for improvement in safety parameters.

(d)&(e) The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project of total NH length of 5846 km launched in 2001 as National Highway Development Project (NHDP) has been made fully operational by 2012. Total expenditure of Rs. 32,200 crores was incurred on GQ.

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