NHAI Will Soon Rank Highways And Economic Corridors Based On Their Safety Levels

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon start ranking national highways in the country on several parameters, key among them the safety management by the concessionaires, reports Business Standard. Three corridors – Mumba-Agra, Vadodara-Delhi and Mumbai-Kolkata – will be audited first and the success rate of the grading will be established before being extended to other highway contracts.

The entire exercise will be in line with global practices where expressways are ranked on the basis of safety, accident response management, mobility, condition of roads, toll plazas and wayside amenities.

The system could be on the lines of the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) that provides star ratings and risk assessment of major rural roads with a stated objective of accidents and injury on the road.

This follows NHAI’s February decision to rank toll plazas across the country which looked at various aspects such eletronic toll collection, FASTag, time taken, toll plaza staff, cleanliness of toilets among others.

The NHAI feels that a ranking system would help create a competitive atmosphere for better services.