Latest news with #IndianRoadsCongress
Time of India
20-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
National Highways: Highway Expansion Seen as Key to India's Vision of Economic Growth, ET Infra
Advt By , ETInfra Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Corporate Affairs, Shri Harsh Malhotra , has said that road infrastructure plays a significant role in supporting regional development. He stated that a sound and functional road network contributes to socio-economic growth and aligns with the Prime Minister's vision of Viksit Bharat by at the 233rd Mid-Term Council Meeting of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) held at Mizoram University Campus in Aizawl, Shri Malhotra highlighted the expansion of National Highways in the past 11 years. According to him, the network has increased by more than 60 per cent, from 91,000 km in 2014 to approximately 1.47 lakh km at meeting was attended by Mizoram Chief Minister Shri Lalduhoma, Cabinet Minister Shri Vanlalhlana, and Member of Parliament Shri Richard on sustainable and cost-efficient road constructionShri Malhotra called for the adoption of globally tested technologies to reduce construction costs without compromising on quality. He noted the need for sustainable practices and use of eco-friendly methods and modern techniques in road recognised the Indian Roads Congress for its contribution to road standards and on the development in North East India, the minister said that the region has seen the construction of nearly 10,000 km of National Highways over the past 11 years, at a cost exceeding ₹1.07 lakh crore. He said this has improved connectivity to remote and border areas.'Infrastructure is not just about concrete and steel—it is the foundation of economic growth, the pathway to prosperity, and the symbol of the Prime Minister's vision for Viksit Bharat by 2047, which is rooted in building a resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive nation,' he said.
Hindustan Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Blue signs given the green signal in Lutyens' Delhi
Lutyens' Delhi is set to change colour ; all road signs in the 42.7 sq km part of the Capital that houses offices and residences of top functionaries and officials of the executive, legislature and judiciary are to now have a blue background, with white lettering, in keeping with norms laid down by the Indian Roads Congress, according to people familiar with the matter. According to the guidelines issued by the national body which prescribes design standards for roads, green signboards of the sort currently found in the area, which is under the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), are to be used only on state and national highways. The signboards in the NDMC area are green, with names written in white in English, Hindi, Urdu and Gurmukhi. The council will also rectify any mistakes and add around 100 new signs to indicate schools, hospitals and community spaces. Other parts of Delhi, where roads come under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and state Public Works Department (PWD), already have blue signboards. The project to install around 6,500 blue signboards is likely to cost around ₹18 crore and will begin in October. A senior NDMC official said preparatory work for the project was recently completed after approvals were secured from the council members of the civic body. 'We will begin this project after the monsoon is over, around October, and the deadline of March 2026 has been fixed for its completion. We normally start the road repair works after the monsoon rains and this project is likely to be run in parallel with road re-carpeting and repair work,' the official added, asking not to be named. NDMC manages 1,298km of roads in Central Delhi, along with 52 roundabouts where 6,439 road signs are currently in place. Apart from colour, some of these signboards also differ from those in the rest of the city in terms of shape; NDMC signboards are both circular and rectangular; in the rest of the city, the boards are rectangular. CHECK The last major street sign replacement program was executed by the civic body in 2009-10 in the run up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Since then, many of the boards have faded. NDMC vice chairman Kuljeet Chahal said that a series of initiatives are being taken by the council to improve the road infrastructure as well as street furniture in the New Delhi area under which signage will also be soon upgraded. S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of traffic engineering and safety division of Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said that road signs, their colour and shapes play an important role in road safety and such glaring deviation should not have been allowed. 'According to the Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines,signboards with blue background are meant for urban roads and green boards are used for state and national highways. There are no highways in the Lutyens' Delhi area. The informatory signs are for making commuters aware that they are on a highway or in an urban environment.' He added that rectangular signs are informative in nature and provide details like road names. The triangular signs are cautionary in nature and indicate upcoming curves or signals, and the circular signs are regulatory in nature. Besides colour, the replacement should also weed out other flaws.' Velumurgan said that normally the triangular and circular boards should have no coloured background as per IRC guidelines except in certain circumstances like construction zones and blue background in case of no parking zones. A second NDMC official, aware of the matter, said that the survey of all signs in New Delhi was completed by the executive engineers of the road division in 2024 and an approval from the council was secured last year. 'All signage in the NDMC area will be designed through a software for uniformity and consistency as per IRC guidelines.' He added that the corporation will reuse the frames of signs that are in good shape. According to civic officials, the change was supposed to take place ahead of the G20 summit in 2023 but the project was delayed. In the annual budget for 2024-25, presented in December last year, the NDMC chairman stated that road signages were 'installed mainly in 2009-10 with reflective sheets and have outlived their life.' He added: 'Indian Roads Congress has revised the specifications with reflective sheets. To achieve proper safety, it is proposed to replace road signages in the NDMC area in next 2024-25.' The project has finally secured the green signal now.
Mint
15-06-2025
- Climate
- Mint
Nitin Pai: Train more civil engineers to solve our infrastructure crisis
Over the past few weeks, heavy rains caused flooding in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurgaon, Guwahati and several other cities. Newly inaugurated metro stations, upscale gated communities, technology parks and arterial roads were flooded, causing economic losses and adding to the chaos that characterizes India's urban spaces. A couple of years ago, an online survey found that over 90% of the respondents across the country suffer from water-logging. It is easy and correct to attribute the problem to climate change, rapid urbanization and corruption. There is another reason: India does not have enough civil engineers. We have been expanding cities and building a massive amount of infrastructure without trained, skilled and experienced engineers necessary to do a good job. We get highways with dangerous corners, roads that get jammed, flyovers that get delayed, and, yes, flooding in metro stations, underpasses and residential car parks. It is not an exaggeration to say that India is facing a civil engineering shortage crisis. Also Read: India's growth and urban planning: On different planets The Indian Roads Congress, a venerable national standards body, has laid out standards for roads, pavements, pedestrian bridges, storm water drains and dozens of other things. After going through these standards, I tried to recall instances where they are actually followed. Other than a few New Delhi neighbourhoods and some parts of Panaji, I do not think there is any place in the country that is built in compliance with those standards. It does not cost much to build roads that meet standards. A road that has the recommended gradient will drain water away and resist water-logging. It only requires the engineers who designed the road network to pay attention to watershed—and contractors to surface the road to maintain that slope. If your road is flooded, it is because either the engineer or the contractor—quite likely both—missed this most basic design lesson. Road medians and speed-breakers are installed without any consideration to their effect on water or pedestrian movement. Few traffic police officers have heard about or care about the Indian Roads Congress and its recommendations. While local governments do hire engineers, people in these positions are technical bureaucrats rather than practising civil engineers. The private sector, for its part, has long been complaining of a shortage in skilled manpower. Why is there a shortage? Also Read: Plot twist: Can the monsoon become urban India's hero again? Well, most people who graduated with a civil engineering degree in the past three decades do not do civil engineering. The great Indian information technology (IT) boom is the 'Dutch disease' that has claimed a large number of them. The remaining ones are in government, consulting and managerial roles in India's fast-growing economy. Very few remain in the civil engineering profession. In response to these trends, engineering colleges across the country have not expanded—and in some cases cut down—the number of civil engineering seats relative to computer science and electronics branches. Civil engineering is not a preferred branch for most students, and is seen as a halfway house to a career in the IT sector. We do not have accurate data, but of the 1.5 million or so engineers that graduate every year, around 300,000 specialize in civil engineering and 80% of them leave the field. Only 60,000 pursue a career in civil engineering in India or abroad. Effectively, India thus produces fewer civil engineers than doctors. There is also a problem of quality. Because so many graduates end up working in IT, it is hard to find good civil engineering faculty, resulting in weakness in the quality of civil engineering overall effect is one where there is an acute shortage of good civil engineers. This cascades down the infrastructure sector: without enough engineers to supervise the work of technicians and labourers, the overall output remains sub-optimal. Shoddy quality, poor workmanship and project delays are covered up by corruption. Also Read: Urban renewal: Indian cities need a governance overhaul The good news is that unlike grand problems like climate change, chaotic urbanization and corruption, public policy can help increase the supply of good civil engineers. The Union and state governments should collaborate with the infrastructure industry to set up civil engineering centres of excellence in state universities in Tier-2 cities. Good faculty from the IITs and top-tier engineering colleges can be seconded to these centres to rapidly build capacity. Merely raising the profile of civil engineering—through industry collaboration and campus placements—can channel talent into the field. The publicity around the extraordinary Chenab Bridge has rekindled public interest in the field. G. Madhavi Latha, a key member of the design team, wrote that although her role was exaggerated in the media, she is extremely happy that many fathers had written to her saying that they wanted their daughters to emulate her, and that young kids have expressed an interest in a career in civil engineering. This is an opportune moment for India to invest in building a strong civil engineering base. Artificial intelligence can easily replace coders, but it will be a while before it replaces civil engineers and masons. The author is co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy.
Time of India
12-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Why Pedestrians Can't Just Be An Afterthought
New Delhi: As India debates how to make its roads safer, experts at the National Road Safety Summit turned the spotlight on something often overlooked in city planning — people on foot. Pedestrian-centric road infrastructure and adherence to Indian Roads Congress (IRC) guidelines, along with the critical role of road engineering, took the centre stage. A slide in the background set the tone for the discussion — it showed what an ideal road should look like: 360-degree visibility, clear lane markings, walkable footpaths, well-maintained vegetation, and smooth merging lanes. Speakers highlighted challenges such as inadequate signage, overgrown vegetation affecting visibility near crossings, and the dominance of vehicle-centric planning. "Engineering plays a crucial role in reducing fatalities, but it can only contribute up to 20% in crash prevention," said Dr S Velmurugan, chief scientist at CSIR-CRRI. "But engineering alone isn't enough. Crashes occur not only due to poor engineering but also due to a multitude of factors encompassing the other 4 Es. These include enforcement issues, lack of road user education, emergency care not available within the golden hour of the crash and poor environment. " He pointed out that India's national highways have nearly doubled, from 70,000 km to 1.44 lakh km in the last 12 years. Yet in cities like Delhi, pedestrians, cyclists, e-rickshaw and two-wheelers account for 75-80% of fatalities. "We need realistic targets and a systemic shift," he said One major concern got repeated mention — non-adherence to not having plantation for at least 120 metres at the median openings as well as at the intersections of the divided carriageways. Discussions also covered blocked or minimised zebra crossings, worn-out markings, and footpaths that are either missing or encroached upon. "Pedestrian infrastructure is routinely compromised," Velmurugan said. "We need an inclusive approach that respects every user's right to safe passage." A question brought attention to jaywalking on the Delhi-Meerut expressway, despite iron grills, questioning people's mindset and justifying the vegetation and iron grills. Dr Mukti Advani, senior principal scientist at CSIR-CRRI, said: "At many such locations, there is no pedestrian infrastructure. You can't blame behaviour when design fails." Children were flagged as especially at risk. "Over 50% of child traffic deaths happen on highways, and 36% in cities, often near intersections," said Syed Hubbe Ali, a health specialist at UNICEF India. Swantantra Kumar of 3M India added: "Safe school zones must anticipate child movement, with speed limits and signs marking entry and exit points." Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
The Hindu
28-05-2025
- The Hindu
A bumpy ride: Chennai's speed breakers break more than just speed
For P. Saravanan, a person with disability and a member of the Social Justice Movement, navigating his vehicle over the speedbreakers in Kaladipettai under Tiruvottiyur Zone is a source of physical pain, on a daily basis. His struggle is far from isolated as several residents have complained about speedbreakers that flout the design standards of Indian Road Congress (IRC) across the city. As per IRC 1988, speedbreakers should be 3.7 metres wide and 10 centimetres high with a 17 metre radius hump, designed for 25 km/h speeds, and marked with reflective thermoplastic paint and warning signs placed in advance. Further, the IRC 2018 adds that placement, gradient, material, and signage are crucial for effectiveness. Here's a look at the guidelines under the Indian Roads Congress: According to Indian Roads Congress IRC 99-2018 ( The degree of the effect of the humps in terms of speed reduction depends upon the profile, height, gradient, length… — R Aishwaryaa (@AishRavi64) February 28, 2024 'The thin rubber-plastic speedbreaker installed two months ago by the Greater Chennai Corporation in Tiruvottiyur is the toughest to negotiate. Yet, it has not been removed despite repeated complaints,' he said. Earlier in May, in Anna Main road of K.K. Nagar, a 22-year-old pregnant woman sustained severe injuries after falling from a two-wheeler, as her husband, who was riding the vehicle, failed to notice a speedbreaker there. Meera Ravikumar, a social activist in Adyar, said that few speedbreakers in Gandhi Nagar under Ward 173 are taller than 10 cm and cause back pain for those forced to frequently pass by them. 'Many are yet to be painted with reflective thermoplastic paint for better visibility at night. The rubber-plastic speedbreaker found in Kastuba Nagar is very uncomfortable for two-wheeler and bicycle riders,' she said. P. Arunkumar, 39, of Manali, stated that in Kannadasan Nagar, emulsion paint was used on a speedbreaker instead of reflective thermoplastic paint, making markings fade quickly, which lead to minor accidents, especially at night when visibility is low. He said that in areas like Korukkupet, speedbreakers are abruptly laid without a smooth transition from the road. Prabhu Krishnamoorthy of M.K.B. Nagar said there are over 10 unmarked speedbreakers on the road between Basin Bridge and Madhavaram, and stretches from Kasimedu to Ennore and Moolakadai to Kavangarai had over 30 unmarked humps. According to a recent complaint submitted by civic activist Balaji Gopalan, speedbreakers in Wards 149 and 150 violate many IRC norms. He said that when a hump in Ward 151 exceeding 10 cm height, was flagged via the Chief Minister's grievance cell, the GCC responded that it was within standards, though it was visibly too high. He added that an RTI filed over eight months ago, seeking details on the number of faulty speedbreakers in the city and action taken against officials responsible, remains unanswered. According to the audit conducted in June and July 2024 by 1000 volunteers of NGO Arappor Iyakkam, 201 of the surveyed speed breakers in 467 spots across the city, including those under Greater Chennai Corporation, Iyyapanthangal, Agaramthen and Thiruneermalai, do not meet IRC regulations. A senior official said little progress was made since February, when 41 speed breakers in Teynampet, Royapuram, and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar Zones, 29 in Kodambakkam Zone, and 20 in Adyar Zone were corrected ensuring proper height and reflective paint marking, after the speedbreaker committee met with Greater Chennai Traffic Police personnel. No further meetings have been held since, he added. GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran stated that nearly 2,000 speedbreakers in the city were identified as not conforming to IRC norms across the city and were taken up for correction before heavy rains hit in 2024. He added that another corrective drive can be undertaken to address the pending issues as raised by commuters.
