The Digital wave is overtaking each and every aspect and sector in the world and also changing the way how the industries across the globe use to function. In the era of digital innovations, it has become crucial for the Indian Highways sector to cope up with the completion and transform. The developed world has already moved towards the ‘smart roads’ or ‘smart highways’ with the efficient and effective use of Information Technology, which are anticipated to be automated, interactive and enabled with the dynamic systems that are able to self-power.
The National Highways Network is the lifeline of our country’s trade, transportation and travel, therefore this concept of ‘smart highways’ holds a lot of potential in India. Considered to be the second largest road network in the world, our network can be further leveraged in a better way than its current state. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, under the leadership of Honorable Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari, is working along with its autonomous agency, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), with extreme determination to achieve the same.
The technological innovations and their effective implementation are helping in yielding the most significant improvements in the highway commute experience. Under the supervision of NHAI’s Chief General Manager (IT & Highway Operations) Akhilesh Srivastava, the NHAI has taken few initiatives to redesign the Indian Highways, which includes:
• Incorporation of RFID-enabled Electronic Toll Collection system aka FASTag
• Pilot on GPS-enabled tolling system between the Delhi-Mumbai corridors
• Implementation of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) on NHs
• Implementation of Advanced Emergency Incident Management System on NHs
• Wayside Amenities Mega-project
• Record target for the construction of 10,000 km of NHs in this financial year
• Hi-tech monitoring/planning, operations and maintenance of NHs
For the efficient management of the existing facilities and highways assets, the NHAI has created a new division called the Highway Operation Division; it primarily focuses on all non-commercial operational activities.
This Division is headed by the CGM (IT & Highway Operations) Shri Akhilesh Shrivastava, who the in-charge for the effective implementation of the following: Electronic tolling, Wayside amenities, Road safety and security, Traffic management, other modern amenities like Wi-Fi on the national highways. The division also takes care of the tracking of ambulances and cranes, plantation, lighting, and sanitation on the Highways.
With the effectual implementation of these, India will soon succeed in creating the ‘smart highways’, where the vehicles will be able to communicate with the roads they run on. This will not only ease the commuters’ stress while travelling on highways but also help in creating safer road and reduced air pollution. The cameras, sensors and the GPS embedded technology will help our roads to detect congestion, traffic blockage and more in real-time.
Another initiative of embedding solar energy-enabled lighting is turning out to be a smart solution to save and channelize the energy. The same has been earlier implemented in Japan and Israel and have received enormous success.
In a quest to improve the commuters’ safety on the highways, the NHAI has taken a lot of serious initiatives, and have come up with a very efficient incident management system. NHAI Chairman, Shri Deepak Kumar has earlier said, “Around 1.5 lakh people die on Indian roads every year. NHAI wants to target on saving lives in the golden hour.” Due to this system, NHAI will be able to save the crucial lives of the citizens and also manage the traffic congestion and bottlenecks on highways.
The world has already started talking about the self-driving automobiles and the NHAI is working with full determination to match up the pace of these technology developments. All the NHAI initiatives will define the new road-traffic landscape of the country. The country’s administration is already working to create 'Smart Cities' as part of the urban infrastructural development and the construction of the Smart Highways/Roads will definitely help in quick elevation of the same. With the permanent solutions for traffic congestions, carbon emissions, and reduced accidents, India will soon touch the new heights in developing a top-notch infrastructure. These smart highways will play a crucial link in improving the overall landscape of modern India.