Editors Page February – March

The current budget has given a huge thrust to roads sector with government proposing to award nearly 10,000Km of National Highways in 2016-17. Another 15,000Km of state highways will be taken up by the Centre from the states for development. With this planned growth in the road sector, especially highway sector, the government is also focusing on technology implementation. Development and implementation of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is part of that broad initiative of the Indian government and road concessionaires to improve the nation’s road network. NHAI-promoted Indian Highways Management Company Limited is implementing nation-wide interoperable electronic toll collection program across 350 toll plazas in the country which is expected to roll out by April 2016. TrafficInfraTech looks at the current status of implementation and the challenges in fully attaining a seamless and fast mobility on highways.

Capacity building and enhanced road safety/management measures go hand in hand. The government has long been talking about establishing a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board to address road safety related issues. The Board, governed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, will focus on ‘regulation of road safety, traffic management system and safety standards in highway design and construction. The second focus of this issue of TrafficInfraTech is on the challenges in putting in place basic road safety products and systems in place and how upgradation of technology and integration can help achieve optimum results. By and large, awareness on the types of products to be chosen and the gap in coordination between enforcement authorities, contractors & organsations or endusers are the critical issues.

The forthcoming Smart Mobility event in September in Mumbai with two Expos — TrafficInfraTech Expo and Parking InfraTech Expo — will host knowledge sharing sessions specially designed to address the issues in safety implementation and also technology inclusion. There will be a full day workshop for the Police officials on the practical aspects of ITS. Trafficinfratech welcomes suggestions and inputs from its readers.