India’s first ever Highway Capacity Manual released

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has released India’s first ever Highway Capacity Manual to guide road engineers and policy makers about road expansion. The manual is known as Indo-HCM. It was released by Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi.
Background
The manual has been developed by CSIR–CRRI on basis of an extensive, country-wide study of traffic characteristics on different categories of roads like single, two, multi-lane urban roads, inter-urban highways and expressways and associated intersections on these roads.
The study involved seven academic institutions including IITs Mumbai, Roorkee, and Guwahati, School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi), Indian Institute of Engineering and Science and Technology (Shibpur), Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Institute of Technology (Surat) and Anna University (Chennai).
Indo-HCM
The manual lays down guidelines for when and how to expand or manage different types of roads and their intersections and level of services to be put in place. It is designed to be useful tool for guiding road engineers and policy makers in country.

Analysis
It has been developed based on the unique nature and diversity of traffic on Indian roads. The manual will help in the scientific planning and expansion of road infrastructure in country. This is first time that manual has been developed in India. Other countries like USA, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan have developed their own Highway Capacity Manuals long time back.
 

By: Vishal