35,335 Km Of Highways Built Since 2022; Over 2,700 Km Of Expressways Operationalised: Government

The Government has constructed a total of 35,335 km of National Highways across India during the last three years and the current year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (6 August).

The large-scale construction activity has also contributed significantly to employment. The projects generated an estimated 48.87 crore man-days of direct employment and 57.81 crore man-days of indirect employment.

As part of its strategy under the Viksit Bharat@2047 vision, the government has also accelerated the development of Access Controlled National High-Speed Corridors (HSCs) and Expressways.

Out of the planned 8,391 km of such access-controlled corridors, 5,110 km have already been constructed, with 2,730 km fully operationalised and open to traffic.

These projects aim to improve national logistics efficiency, decongest urban traffic choke points, and boost connectivity to ports and economic hubs.

The Centre is also "taking up development of ring roads, bypasses and elevated corridors in major cities/urban centres and state capitals, in consultation with State Governments, to decongest traffic and alleviate choke/congestion points on National Highways (NHs) and improving the port connectivity," Gadkari said.

To further enhance efficiency on the roads, the ministry is deploying digital infrastructure like FASTag-based tolling, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) based traffic management, etc.

The safety measures being deployed on the roads include installation of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) in Four lane and above NHs.

"ATMS has provisions for various electronic enforcement devices which help in speedy identification of incidents (including traffic violations) on the highway stretches and effectively monitor the highways, thereby improving incident response time and road safety," Gadkari said.

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