Overview
- The National Highways Authority of India, which issued the guidelines on Monday, spelled out technical standards to be used when preparing Detailed Project Reports for four- and six-lane access-controlled national highways.
- Lane and corridor widths will be set by traffic bands: up to 15,000 vehicles gets a four-lane highway with 60-metre corridor, 15,000–25,000 gets four lanes with six-lane structures and 70 metres, and 25,000–40,000 gets six lanes with a 70-metre corridor.
- Ramped interchanges will be mandatory at crossings with expressways, national and state highways and on roads serving ports, airports, multimodal logistics parks and major industrial or tourist destinations to limit direct access to the main corridor.
- New safety and access-control rules include advance advance-warning signs for entry and exit points and a one-metre-high outer boundary wall to prevent encroachments, unauthorized entry and stray cattle.
- The framework covers both greenfield routes and brownfield upgrades, but adoption into specific DPRs, tender terms, land acquisition plans and funding timelines will determine how quickly projects change on the ground.