Modern Highway developments Plan in India.

Modern developments:-

The 1st World war period and that immediately following it found a rapid growth in motor transport,so need for better roads became a necessity. For that, the Government of India appointed a committee called Road development Committee with Mr. M.R. Jayakar as the chairman. This committee came to be known as Jayakar committee.

Jayakar Committee:-

In 1927 Jayakar committee for Indian road development was appointed. The major recommendations and the resulting implementations were:

Committee found that the road development of the country has become beyond the capacity of local governments and suggested that Central government should take the proper charge considering it as a matter of national interest.

They gave more stress on long term planning programme, for a period of 20 years (hence called twenty year plan) that is to formulate plans and implement those plans within the next 20 years.

One of the recommendations was the holding of periodic road conferences to discuss about road construction and development. This paved the way for the establishment of a semi-official technical body called Indian Road Congress (IRC) in 1934

The committee suggested imposition of additional taxation on motor transport which includes duty on motor spirit, vehicle taxation, and license fees for vehicles plying for hire. This led to the introduction of a development fund called Central road fund in 1929. This fund was intended for road development. A dedicated research organization should be constituted to carry out research and development work. This resulted in the formation of Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in 1950.

Nagpur road congress (1943):-

The Second World War saw a rapid growth in road traffic and this led to the deterioration in the condition of roads. To discuss about improving the condition of roads, the government convened a conference of chief engineers of provinces at Nagpur in 1943. The result of the conference is famous as the Nagpur plan.

A twenty year development programme for the period (1943-1963) was finalized. It was the 1st attempt to prepare a co-ordinated road development programme in a planned manner.

The roads were divided into four classes:

National Highways which are pass through states and places having national importance for strategic administrative and other purposes.

              

State highways which are be the other main roads of a state.

District roads which are take traffic from the main roads to the interior of the district. According to importance, some are considered as major district roads and the remaining as other district road.

Village roads which are link the village to the road system.

The committee planned to construct 2 lakh kms of road across the country within 20 years.

They recommended the construction of star and grid pattern of roads throughout the country.

One of the objective was that the road length should be increased so as to give a road density of 16kms per 100 sq.km

Bombay road congress (1961):-

The length of roads envisaged under the Nagpur plan was achieved by the end of it, but the road system was deficient in manyrespects. The changed economic, industrial and agricultural conditions in the country warranted a review of the Nagpur plan. Accordingly a 20-year plan was drafted by the Roads wing of Government of India, which is popularly known as the Bombay plan. The highlights of the plan were.

It was the second 20 year road plan (1961-1981).The total road length targeted to construct was about 10 lakhs.

Rural roads were given specific attention. Scientific methods of construction wereproposed for the rural roads. The necessary technical advice to the Panchayathsshould be given by state PWD’s.They suggested that the length of the road should be increased so as to give a road density of 32kms/100 sq.km.The construction of 1600 km of expressways was also then included in the plan.

Lucknow road congress (1984):-

This plan has been prepared keeping in view the growth pattern envisaged in various fields by the turn of the century. Some of the salient features of this plan are as given below:

This was the third 20 year road plan (1981-2001). It is also called Lucknow road plan.

It aimed at constructing a road length of 12 lakh kilometres by the year 1981 resulting in a road density of 82kms/100 sq.km

The plan has set the target length of NH to be completed by the end of seventh, eighth and ninth five year plan periods.

It aims at improving the transportation facilities in villages, towns etc. such that no part of country is farther than 50 km from NH.

One of the goals contained in the plan was that expressways should be constructed on major traffic corridors to provide speedy travel. Energy conservation, environmental quality of roads and road safety measures were also given due importance in this plan.