Govt to assess and rate national highways

The ministry of road transport and highways will soon start assessment and rating of the overall performance of national highways corridors to help improve the user experience.In a notification, issued on Thursday, the ministry said two separate rating criteria shall be adopted for ‘access controlled expressways and designated high-speed corridors’ and normal national highways.Also read: Delhi to Haridwar in 1.5 hours next month? Nitin Gadkari says new road projects will boost tourism, jobsThese highways will be ranked on three categories including highway efficiency, highway safety and user experience with various sub parameters under the three main categories.“The rating of national highways is intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of the highway corridor and facilitate identification of deficiencies and prioritization of measures for improvement,” it said.The ministry will consider peak congestion, level of service, pavement condition index, toll plaza rating, presence of ATMs every 20 km and uniformity of paved carriageway width while determining the rating under the highway efficiency parameter.Further, number of accidents per 10 km per annum, accident severity index, number of fatalities, and failure in project leading to projects leading to road closures and diversion will be taken into account while arriving at the highway safety parameter ranking.Moreover, availability of wayside amenities, extent of user complaints, user ratings, number of encroachments and extent of plantation will help Centre arrive at rating under the user experience parameter, the ministry said.