Centre sets 10,000 km highway target, no separate data on road design-linked accidents

The Union government has set a preliminary target of 10,000 km of National Highway construction for the current financial year, even as it admitted that no separate record is maintained on accidents caused specifically by poor design or structural flaws.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said 10,660 km of highways were built in 2024-25. He noted that accident data published annually by the government was based on figures submitted by states and Union Territories, but stressed that crashes were a “multi-causal phenomenon” influenced by human error, road environment and vehicle condition.

The response makes clear that while fatalities on highways remain a persistent concern, the ministry does not disaggregate accident figures to identify cases linked directly to road design shortcomings.

On the technology front, Gadkari said Intelligent Transportation Systems were being rolled out in phases to strengthen road safety and monitoring. Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) have already been installed on major corridors such as the Delhi–Meerut Expressway, Trans-Haryana Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Delhi–Mumbai Expressway.

ATMS uses electronic enforcement tools to detect incidents in real time and speed up on-site assistance. As part of its policy, the National Highways Authority of India is implementing the system nationwide, beginning with five pilot projects. Of these, two corridors, the Bangalore–Mysore highway (117 km) and Dwarka Expressway (58 km), have completed ATMS installation, while three others, including the Delhi–Agra stretch, the Lucknow Ring Road and UER-II in Delhi and Haryana, are under progress.