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Today, the making and upkeeping of roads is one of
the country’s most continuous and money-draining tasks. Driven
by the ambition to connect the various regions of the country with
high quality motorable roads the ministry of surface transport so far
has laid down a 52010 km length of national highways in the country
distributed over various states.
Motorable roads were
built much after the period of the popularization of the automobile
both in Europe and in the United States. The experimental version of
it surfaced in Germany after World War I in 1922 with the six-mile
Ayus highway near Berlin. In 1924, in Rome, the first modern
automobile-oriented road, the autostrada, was opened to the use of
fast traffic in the environs of the city. Speed was assured through
limited access.
In the 1930s, Germany
began to build the Autobahns, free-flowing roads with grade
separations and limited access, allowing motorists rapid departure
from cities. Later Hitler saw great military value in these roads and
began to construct a network to reach all Germany’s borders,
though it was still incomplete in 1945. Only after World War II did
other European countries begin to copy these quintessentially
automotive roads.
The network of roads was
expanding abroad. Highways of four driving lanes, grade-separations
at route intersections, and channelised turns at such intersections
came in the ‘40s when limited access was introduced.
In India, too, like other
parts of the world, the advent of the automobile found a similarly
primitive natural road system that has only over a full century been
brought up to the standard called for by automotive travel. The Grand
Trunk road by Sher Shah Suri was one of the only few motorable roads
in the country. However, Indian road making has gone through a
revolution in the last 40-50 years. Continuous expansion, maintenance
and improvement have been a part of this revolution. Efforts are now
been made to improve the existing National Highways not only by
strengthening and rehabilitation of existing assets but also by
constructing new roads and bridges over missing links, improvement of
low grade sections and widening to 4-lanes. The work of modernization
of the system through construction of some expressways is also in
progress. Currently, in the 9th Plan, the Ministry of
Surface Transport outlines a massive of job of nation building. It
would decide the phased removal of deficiencies in the existing NH
network in tune with traffic needs for 10-15 years with emphasis on
high-density corridors for four laning. It would bring in
highway-user oriented project planning in identifying package of
project section-wise rather than isolated stretches. Also, greater
attention would be given to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of
dilapidated bridges for the safety of the traffic. Along with the
modernization of road construction technology for speedy execution
and quality assurance, there would be continuous efforts in
engineering measures to improve road safety and conservation of
energy. However, perhaps the most noteworthy objective is integrating
the development plans with Railways and other modes of transport.
North eastern region would be the first to reck on with this
objective.
Now, to be a little
futuristic, India plans to experiment with rubber roads. Or a step
further, India might begin something on the line of Canada’s
all-weather road to the Arctic Ocean.
However, all these
ambitious planning falls back on funding support. Development work on
the National Highways is currently done through budgetary support. To
improve the position of availability of funds, steps are being taken
in this direction. Cess on petrol and diesel has been levied to make
funds available for Highway infrastructure development. Funds are
also obtained from externally funding agencies like World Bank. Asian
development Bank, OECF etc. for projects in the Highway sector.
Amendments have been made in the National Highway Act to encourage
private sector participation in funding of road projects on BOT
(Build-Operate and Transfer) basis.
The rich variety of
traffic in Indian road personifies the ethnic diversity of the
country. People from all walks of life come together and pursue their
destination everyday.
A quiet meander of a
road, which starts its journey on the sultry sea board sometimes,
peters out beside a mountain meadow or dried-up expanse of Rajasthan.
How about imagining a journey on an Indian road where there are a few
petrol stations, a couple of temples, a traffic light, and then
suddenly nothing but the open prairie! Imagine a blue sky which is
lined with geese heading to their destination. All around, the land
is so flat and the light so cunning that it appears to ripple like an
ocean. Only the grazing cattle and the regular geometry of power
lines and telephone poles persuade the driver otherwise.
When a motor vehicle hits
a criss-cross, one road runs into another road, which itself would
eventually run into another road. Thanks to the labours of hundreds
of barely noticed folk, the potential journey through any stretch of
Indian land is endless and eternal.
However, these journeys
through Indian roads begin to change rapidly with the flood of new
cars. The revolution of the road would repeat the American
experience. Rising levels of automobile ownership after the war led
to patterns of residential suburbs and outlying shopping centres in
the 1930s in America. This enlargement of the market for cars caused
major restructuring of automobile manufacturing, largely ending the
era of the special car for the wealthy.
In the United States, the
earlier creation of a mass market for automobiles meant that urban
roads were crowded with cars by the 1930s. It was this demand rather
than military objectives that led to the “superhighway.”
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and
California were leaders in this effort.
The dominant role of the
automobile in Indian transportation has arisen despite a
transportation has arisen despite a transportation infrastructure
that is not at all conducive to such an outcome. However, this is
also subject to change in time to come.
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