SAFER ROADS & HIGHWAYS - Enabler to Economic Recovery.

The role and significance of safer roads and especially that of national highways in moving goods and people efficiently is increasingly evident as an important enabler to the economic revival. Agith G Antony tracks the recent developments in the roads and highway sector.

Sprinting Ahead

The budget, meeting industry expectations and focusing on infrastructure development in the economy, involved the announcement of a sharp increase in capital expenditure, of nearly ~34% to Rs 5.54 lakh crore in FY22, as against Rs.4.39 lakh crore. The outlay of Rs.1.18 lakh crore towards roads and highways for FY22 registers an increase of ~28% compared with the previous year.

Highway projects have been announced in West Bengal, (Rs 25000 crore for 675 Km) Tamil Nadu, (Rs.1.03 lakh crore for building 3500 Km) Kerala, (Rs 65000 crore for 1500 Km) and Assam, (Rs 53000 crore for 1300 km).

The FM announced that under the ambitious Bharatmala Programme, of the targeted investments of Rs.5.35 lakhs crore for the development of 34,800 Km, projects spanning 13000 Km and worth ~Rs.3.3 lakh crore have already been awarded. The FM also emphasised the construction of 3800 km of roads under the Bharatmala Pariyojana and announced the government would award another 8500 kms and an additional 11000 km of national highway corridors.

The budget has also stressed the importance of monetising operational infrastructure assets as another important means of raising financing. For this purpose, the budget has proposed to establish a National Monetisation Pipeline of potential brownfield infrastructure assets. The NHAI and PGCIL have each sponsored one InvIT that will attract international and domestic institutional investors. For that purpose, five operational road assets worth ~Rs 5000 crore are being transferred to the NHAI InvIT, and transmission assets with value of ~Rs 7000 crore would be transferred to the PGCIL InvIT.

According to Vipula Sharma, Head - Infrastructure Ratings, BWR, the budget impact and announcements are positive and are expected to provide a significant boost to the infrastructure sector. The focus of the budget to increase capital expenditure both from the centre and states is expected to provide the much-needed jumpstart to the Covid-hit Indian economy. Sharma adds, “The budget has tried to address the key obstacles of obtaining debt finance/debt tie-up, which is the one of the main reasons for the delay in project implementation, by introducing new institutional structures such as a Development Finance Institution (DFI). This is expected to provide ease of access to finance for infrastructure projects and will aid the developers who are finding it difficult to raise finance with long gestation and tenures from the banks.”

“The move to increase fund allocations for roads and highways segment in the infrastructure sector will definitely facilitate the set development agenda. Roads development has always been a proven strong vaccine for economic boost, since it has direct impact on land prices, facilitate urban development, creates direct employment and immediate capex generation above all,” says Anil Yadav, Group Chief Finance Officer, IRB Infra Group. 

Observes Bajrang Kumar Choudhary, Managing Director, Bharat Road Network Limited, “While we welcome the policy announcements on setting up of Development Financial Institution (DFI) for infrastructure financing, enhanced impetus on asset monetization with the launch of National Monetization Pipeline, relaxation in conditions for exemption to Sovereign Wealth Fund & Pension Fund (SWF/PF) to incentivize them to invest in Indian infrastructure, we would be keen to watch how soon the government could get the ball rolling on the policy announcements.”

According to Rajeshwar Burla, Vice President, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, road contractors have already stepped on the gas ably supported by the liquidity boosting measures by MORTH and NHAI. The execution during 9M FY2021 stood at 7,767 km, 12% higher than 6,940 km in 9M FY2020. Adjusting for the first 20 days of April 2020 wherein no construction activity was allowed, the execution per day saw a growth of 21% to 30.5 km/day in 9M FY2021 from 25.2 km/day in 9M FY2021. The execution for FY2021 is estimated at around 10,500 km. In FY2022, the execution could surpass 11,500 km.

Explains Akshay Purkayastha, Director-Transport & Logistics, CRISIL, the two key performance indicators — length of road project awarded and constructed - are encouraging.

The current construction pace means the fiscal 2019 record of 29 km per day could be beaten despite the pandemic challenges, and the annual target of 11,000 km by March 31, 2021. “We expect the growth trajectory in awards and construction to sustain next fiscal, taking into account the introduction of investor-friendly changes in the model concession agreement (MCA) for highway building under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) and build-operate-transfer (BOT)-toll model, and the government's push for greenfield corridors and expressways.”  The budget outlay in the recent budget proves the fact.

Towards Sustainable Roads

On the execution side, there is increasing awareness around design and engineering, material sciences and alternative materials adoption to widen the acceptable sources for key construction items - e.g. petroleum products, expansion joints and encourage material such as geotextiles and others. There are many good research projects going on in this area of pavements. Says Satish Chandra, Director, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, “Our scientists are working on development of high strength and fast curing cementitious stabilized base layer, which will reduce the curing time in field. Feasibility of using higher RAP content (50-70%) in bituminous pavements is another exciting project currently going on. The Ministry of Steel has sponsored a major research scheme of use of steel slag in road. This project is supported by several steel industries in country. We are also working on a project of making low cost equipment for construction of durable roads in Himalayan region. Porous asphalt, reinforced pavements and development of rejuvenators for recycling of pavements are other projects of high importance.”

He adds, “We have demonstrated use of several types of industrial wastes, C & D waste and waste plastic in road construction, which will lead to sustainability. Use of reinforcing materials like geogrid, geocell and geotextiles are already now part of IRC specifications. Recycling of pavements is another step towards sustainability and our scientists are educating the field engineers and concessionaires on recycling.”

SMA Technology

Stone Matrix Asphalt is a gap graded mix with a higher percentage of both aggregates and binder rich mortar. Since bitumen is liable to bleeding or leaching, bitumen coated cellulose are used in the hot mix. The cellulose fibers ensure that the bitumen doesn't bleed or leach, thereby ensuring a durable and long-lasting pavement. This is also the very reason why pavements designed on the SMA technology show almost no signs of rutting.

According to Sanjeev Goel, Founder & Managing Director, Descon Infrastructures adopting stone matrix asphalt is one way to make highways durable and sustainable. “SMA mix prime technical advantage is its ability to prolong the life of the pavement to 12 - 15 years without the need for resurfacing or other maintenance measures. Conventional design mix on the other hand require resurfacing/ maintenance of the wearing course between every 2nd or 3rd year. This particular attribute reduces the requirement for natural resources i.e., aggregates, fuel & bitumen, etc. Given that there are only a finite number of resources on this planet, adopting SMA is one way to make highways durable and sustainable,” avers Goel.

Vikas Sharma, Director, Genesis Infra Project Consultants is on the same page. “Stone matrix asphalt has huge potential in constructing sustainable roads in India,” says Sharma. SMA technology is the ideal technology for India as the life cycle cost compared to conventional bituminous concrete works out to be economical because of rut resistance characteristics which helps it to become sustainable and have a longer life, Sharma explains. “We plan to take stone matrix asphalt technology to the most interior corners of India and prove the world that sustainable roads are the roots of infrastructure development of India. If we have good roads, we will have a great connectivity and a highly enhanced economy in India,” Sharma adds.

Road Safety - More Forgiving Roads

Himanshu Shrimal, Chief Technical Officer, Dhruv Consultancy Services provides the disturbing statistics. In India, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, over 1.54 lakh people died in road accidents in 2019. To put this into perspective, the approximate number of deaths due to Covid-19 within one year in India is also 1.54 lakhs! And Covid has been brought under control within mere 9 months! What about road accidents and causalities - depressingly it is on the rise.

“Now, as per the norms put down by the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), and even by the principles of road design, we engineers have to make certain provisions in the design, keeping in mind the psychology of the driver. We call this concept, the ‘Forgiving Road Design'. Forgiving Road Design, is a concept used to make roads safer by foreseeing the driver's fatal mistakes, and making provisions on the road, structurally, to keep him safe. To avoid or minimise the harm and consequences of traffic accidents, the idea is applied to roads that have the necessary means to minimise damage and danger in case of an accident. It is applied most effectively on conventional highways like in case the vehicle should run off the road. If this happens, these roads make it easier for the vehicle to get back on the road,” explains Shrimal.

Ramashankar Pandey, Chairman, Safety Committee, FICCI points out, “As road safety is a complex topic, we need to have a multidisciplinary approach to traffic planning and road design. A combination of legislation, enforcement of laws and education of road-users can significantly improve compliance with key safety rules, thereby reducing injuries. While strategies from developed countries can be adopted, there is also need to study the local context and implement relevant interventions and plans to improve road safety. The current rates of morbidity and mortality due to road injuries are both unacceptable and avoidable. Road safety should be high up on the political, administrative and community agenda to evoke an evolved sense of safe traffic culture among masses.”

Role of Private Players

The role of private players in road safety is exceedingly important to complement and fast track government's efforts to improve the road safety scenario. IRF had organized four Roundtables on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) with the main objective of developing a comprehensive action plan for ensuring speedy deployment and optimisation of ITS in India to address the problems of road safety, congestion, pollution and mobility in India in the most cost efficient and sustainable manner.
Dr. Gangopadhyay, Chairman, IRF IC said, “As a follow up of this effort, the IRF joined hands with the NITI Aayog to formulate ITS Policy for India. IRF IC chaired the Technical sub-Committee for this purpose set up by NITI Aayog. The report of the Committee has been submitted.” IRF IC has been instrumental in MoRTH issuing Circulars for Engineering Measures required to construct and promote forgiving roads instead of just constructing roads; and has been working towards various tax exemptions for investment in road safety.

In India, road safety programs exist in many forms, however, there is a need for a more structured and consistent approach.  Addressing the concern of road safety around school premises,

3M India under their community initiative ‘3M Young Change Agents for Road Safety' (YCARS) developed a robust program in partnership with Concern for Road and Pedestrian Safety (CoRPs) and United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe) and launched the first School Safety Zone at St. Joseph's School Bengaluru in 2019.

Pawan Kumar Singh, Country Head, Transportation & Electronics Business Group, 3M India, says, “Covid-19 has not been able to control road accidents. Road safety is a global pandemic that claims over 1.3 million lives every year. India, which has less than 1% of global motor vehicles, sees 11% of people killed every year due to road-related fatalities. With YCARS, we are not only safeguarding our kids with safe school zones but also aiming to sensitize future drivers by instilling responsible driving practices in them. We have successfully been able to cover 12 schools during 2019-2020 and we strive towards increasing the number in coming years across the country.”

Government Initiatives

In India, one of the biggest positive development has been the constitution of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety which has been effectively directing all stakeholders on implementation of road safety standards across the country by constituting state level committees and also a group of minsters committee. The recent notification by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for establishment of the National Road Safety Board is another welcoming step which was long pending. This will help in bringing all stakeholders together instead of work being done isolation and will help effectively implement and monitor programs on road safety.

Recently, Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways in a webinar on road safety said that the government has undertaken a lot of initiatives to reduce road accidents including correcting black spots or spots witnessing a high number of accidents due to bad road designing or other road engineering or related flaws. “We are working on fast track mode to achieve the goal with the cooperation of all stakeholders, especially the state governments,” Gadkari said.

In January 2021, National Highways Authority of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute for Road Traffic Education (IRTE) and Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh (IDC) to promote road safety and collaborate in the areas of traffic management through a programme titled ‘Capacity building of Road Safety Management through the Safe Systems Approach Programme. Under the partnership, IRTE will support NHAI to improve the functional aspects of road geometrics and ensure that traffic control devices conform to the IRC standards to achieve efficient, free and rapid flow of traffic. IRTE will also support NHAI and its associated agencies in conducting the safety audit, traffic engineering surveys, developing and creating awareness programmes for schools, universities and general public.

The MoU also includes development of a need-based data management system and in developing a methodology of collection and recording of data with reference to accidents, enforcement, traffic volumes. It will also help to create specialised training programmes, tools and systems of training as well as provide basic training, road safety audit, accident investigation and traffic management. The Institute will help NHAI to develop and devise a strategy for coordination of traffic enforcement personnel along the national highways, conduct study of Road Traffic Violations (RTVs) and support with one of their Interceptor - CrashLab, mobile traffic enforcement.

In November 2020 NHAI had introduced a unique initiative to associate with reputed technical institutes and engineering colleges to adopt nearby stretches of National Highways, on voluntary basis under Institution Social Responsibility. 18 IITs (including IIT Roorkee, IIT Bombay, IIT Varanasi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur), 26 NITs and 190 other reputed engineering colleges have agreed to collaborate. Out of which, about 200 institutes have already signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Over 300 Institutes are expected to collaborate to adopt NH stretches. Under this initiative, the partner institutes will study improvement prospects in road safety, maintenance, riding comfort, removal of choke points, black spots and usage of new technologies on the adopted stretches and give suitable suggestions to NHAI. The institutes are also encouraged to associate with the Consultants/NHAI during conceptualization, design and project preparation of new projects and suggest the relevant performance parameters and innovations based on experience specific to the local climate, topography and resource potential for better socio economic outcome.

Rolling Ahead

Prasad, Project Director, India International Infrastructure Engineers Ltd sums up. The booming economy and exploding traffic in the country has taken road infrastructure in India to a new dimension. An efficient planning and construction of highways, expressways and high-speed corridors have become need of the day. Highways as high-speed corridors are not just functioning as means of transporting vehicles from one place to another but also they host numerous industries along the corridor making a hub of economy. The development of high-speed corridors in the developed countries has revealed the potential of such corridors to alter the economy of the region. However, all this is possible only with a mix of proper planning and using the right design parameters while designing the alignment. The geometrics of highway should be designed to provide optimum efficiency in traffic operations with maximum safety at reasonable cost.

The following pages give comprehensive coverage on different aspects of roads and highways sector.

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