An American economist in the 60s, Thomas Wilson, once said: "If I had money, I would build roads. If I had more money, I would build more roads. If I had still more money, I would build still more roads." Clearly, he sought to iterate and reiterate the single-most important element of infrastructure-building for an economy to prosper. Great nations of the 20th century became great primarily on the back of their highway networks. As the home of the automobile, the US started the trend and expressways were built at a frenetic pace in the aftermath of the Great Depression as a means of kick-starting a moribund economy. Hitler took the cue quickly and upon assuming power in 1933, the German dictator unveiled a gigantic plan to construct autobahns across the country, which soon became a marvel the rest of Western Europe rapidly emulated immediately after World War II ended.

In medieval times, India too had an intricate road network to facilitate the movement both of troops and commerce. The visionary ruler, Sher Shah Suri who held the reins of power for a brief period in the interregnum between two stints of Humayun's rule in the 16th century is rightly credited for linking Peshawar to Calcutta, a distance of nearly 2,500 km - a humongous feat in its time. The British, too, were ardent road builders. Much of India's 3.38 million km road network was either built or modernised by the colonists during their 190-year rule over the country.

Sadly, since the British left, roads were consciously dropped from the agenda of development. So much so, they fell into disrepair, neglected by Central and state governments despite the establishment of a plethora of bureaucratic bodies ostensibly aimed at the expansion and maintenance of the road network.

It needed a visionary like Atal Bihari Vajpayee to promote road building and make it a major plank of the NDA's agenda of governance. Vajpayee launched two parallel, ambitious projects: The first involved construction of a four-lane, world class highway linking the four metros and another highway project to link Imphal in the East with Porbandar in the West and Srinagar in the North with Kanniya Kumari in the South; and the second, even more impressive, was to link every village (India has an estimated 600,000) with an all-weather road to the nearest existing road or State Highway.

Unfortunately, the ambitious road project has become the biggest casualty of UPA rule. Even the Golden Quadrilateral, almost completed by the time Vajpayee demitted office, languishes with work incomplete on nearly 250 km in various stretches. Recently, 93 km of the project was officially abandoned, apparently because the contractors could not execute the job and fresh tenders are waiting to be floated. The East-West corridor is in a scandalous state.

As a regular traveller on the Delhi-Moradabad stretch (165 km), on NH 24, I find almost zero progress over the last four years. Supporting walls for flyovers intended for every major qasba on the way stand like monuments to a project gone hopelessly awry. They have stood that way for years, with only two of the approximately 20 proposed overpasses becoming operational so far. The authorities felled all trees along the route three years back to widen the road and presumably sold the wood for a big profit. But little road-building has happened since then.

The journey between Hapur and Gajraula (60 km approx) is nightmarish to say the least, taking up to two hours to cover. After the recent rains, passage on this sector has become a test of endurance and a vehicle's durability. Just a fortnight ago, I found at least six trucks blocking the road at various points with broken axles, while a similar number of vehicles had either overturned or stuck in slush.

Although the National Highway Authority of India must be credited with completing a 6.5 km-long flyover across congested Panipat on NH 1, its construction took an inordinately long four years during which at least one hour was added to the journey time from Delhi to Chandigarh. The proposed six-laning of the Delhi-Karnal segment has taken over 10 years. Supporting walls, pillars and in many cases even the main flyover bridge, were completed years ago, but the access is still not ready. Imagine, 10 years merely for six-laning an existing four-lane highway! In that time the number of private vehicles in the country has doubled and India's population grown by more than 10 crore!

This article focusses only on a few select stretches of National Highways, based on the author's personal experience. But regular travellers know how hazardous roads everywhere have progressively become. The appallingly slow pace of construction, failure to build proper by-passes, total absence of warning signages and the frightening state of bridges (many more than 100 years old), have made India one of the world's most road-user-unfriendly countries. Anyone who has recently journeyed between Delhi and Dehradun, a burgeoning state capital now, will surely refuse to undertake a trip on NH 58 ever again.

Consider this in conclusion: In 1986, China did not have a single modern highway; in fact, Chinese roads were worse than India's. By 2006, it had 45,000 km of magnificent, mostly six-lane expressways crisscrossing the country including Tibet. And China plans to have 96,000 km of such roads by 2020. Why 96,000 km? Because the US has 95,000 and China wants to overtake America's record to become World No 1 in roads. India, a developed country by 2020? With roads like what we have, No Way!

Upside, downside

It's not that India can't build world class highways. Gujarat is a model State in this regard. The 92 km-long expressway connecting Ahmedabad to Vadodara is a case in point. It took me just 45 minutes to cover this stretch for three reasons: (1) the entire Expressway, built on an elevation, has two sets of barriers on each side, one along the road and another at a lower level to ensure humans, cattle and dogs do not come onto the thoroughfare, (2) all exits and entries are clearly marked with no intersections at grade, so no tractor trolley suddenly leaps out of a dirt track posing a serious threat to oncoming traffic, and (3) the main NH 8 runs almost parallel, which means slow-moving traffic, including two-wheelers can be proscribed on the Expressway without inviting the charge of vehicular apartheid. World over, this is the way inter-city roads are built but sadly even the new and otherwise splendid Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway is so badly planned that pedestrians don't have access to the other side and two-wheelers insist on using the highway.

The fundamental flaw in India's highway design is that highways are replacing two-lane roads on the existing alignments thus passing through towns and villages. No matter how many overpasses are built to allow fast-moving through traffic smooth transit, there will still be villages along the highway and outskirts of towns where local traffic, people, cyclists and animals will vie for space with speeding trucks, buses and cars. The simple solution would have been to build by-passes, but the plan was dropped because costs would have risen. This was a short-sighted decision as the need to build a hugely expensive flyover at Panipat shows. Had the city been by-passed while NH 1 was being widened 20 years ago, this would not have been needed. Fortunately, the NH 2 stretch from Calcutta to Durgapur has been built well away from the congested outskirts of the metro.

India's road surfaces are also among the worst. First, while planning upgradation, policy makers invariably underestimate future traffic load. As a result, the surface deteriorates rapidly since roads are not built to withstand such heavy loads. Even NH 1 is currently in dire need of resurfacing. Second, the material used for surfacing is below global standards. It rains everywhere in the world, heavily in China and South-East Asia which have excellent highway networks. But Indian roads are particularly susceptible to rain while poor levelling and drainage leads to water accumulation causing potholes the size of lunar craters to appear after every monsoon. Interior roads get heavily damaged because they are not built at an elevation resulting in water from adjoining fields spilling over and damaging the road surface every year.

Lacking drive

A major factor for road accidents and deaths in our country is the absence of a proper culture of driving. Nearly 1 lakh people die from road accidents in India - the highest number in the world. It is like a fully-loaded Boeing 747 Jumbo jet crashing and killing all passengers every day! Here are some suggestions to reduce the magnitude of this ever-growing tragedy:

Mandatory annual tests for drivers for the first five years after they procure a driving licence. Thereafter, drivers must be thoroughly tested every five years for renewal. Failure would result in the immediate suspension of the license with the report being relayed to the employer/insurance company/ loan-giving bank concerned.

Anybody whose licence is suspended will not be allowed a re-test before one year. Three consecutive failures shall result in permanent cancellation of a driving licence.

A separate category giving clearance for highway driving must be introduced. The hologramed license must pass through a scanner at the first tollbooth and those not entitled to drive on highways turned back.

Random checks for traffic violations, including failure to drive on designated lanes and drunken driving must be conducted both on city roads and highways, especially after dark. Anybody booked for serious violation would have his/ her licence suspended. This mechanism must be computerised so that bribery is minimised.

Proper two-lane roads running parallel to highways must be constructed as part of the building contract to enable villagers to travel smoothly without jeopardising speeding traffic.

Double-fencing on the lines of the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway must be mandatory for all highways to prevent cattle and dogs straying on to the road.

Driving instruction must be incorporated in the school curriculum in all urban schools, and gradually extended to rural areas. For that it is essential to construct a large number of training parks and employ skilled instructors.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, September 30, 2008