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The share of 'four-lane and above' highway stretches completed in the country between April and January of the current fiscal year has reached an all-time high, accounting for roughly 43% of all NH stretches developed in 2023-24. Although the proportion of four-, six-, and eight-lane sections is slightly greater than a year ago, the rate of building has increased by 16% to 3,297 km. According to officials, the percentage will probably be higher than it was the previous year during the final two months of this fiscal year.
Beating the prior trend of more highway development "achievements" coming from strengthening existing segments and widening NHs to only two lanes, the focus is now on developing bigger highways and motorways. Govt data show that this became a priority in 2019-20, and the annual construction rate of highways with more than four lanes has tripled compared to 2013-14.
Data shows that while in 2013-14, 1,332km of four-lane and above highways were built, this increased to 4,635km in 2022-23. Data shows that during the past 10 years, the length of NHs with less than two lanes has reduced from 27,517km in March 2014 to 14,300km.
“Going by the current trend, we will beat last year's record. The completion of highway stretches increases during Jan-March as this is the best construction period. Now we are building more highways and wider ones to meet the growing traffic demand,” said an official. Officials admitted that since highways are meant for faster movement of vehicles, these should ideally be at least four lanes with divided carriageways in the plains. Two-lane roads are sufficient in hills and other areas where traffic demand is lower.
With govt now focusing more on building transport infrastructure to reduce logistics costs, the next phase of highway development will be the construction of expressways and access-controlled stretches. The road transport ministry has set an ambitious target to increase the length of four-lane and above highways from 47,000km to 75,000km by 2030 and convert all NHs to at least two-lane highways by then.
The rapid pace of NH construction has been possible because of a jump in the budgetary allocation — from ₹31,130 crore in 2013-14 to ₹2.8 lakh crore for 2024-25. The overall investment in the highway sector, including private investment, has increased from ₹59,135 crore in 2013-14 to ₹2.23 lakh crore in 2023-24.
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