National Highway Decongestion in Urban Areas

This document outlines the need for decongestion of National Highways in and around urban areas in response to increasing urbanization, vehicular traffic and expansion of cities and towns. It highlights the adverse effects of congestion, including increased travel time, fuel consumption, logistics costs and pollution. The document identifies interventions such as ring roads, bypasses and elevated corridors to separate local traffic from cross-destination traffic. It also discusses the identification of 191 towns and cities with populations above one lakh under Bharatmala Pariyojana where congestion points were identified based on reductions in average corridor speeds. The document further highlights challenges associated with non-access-controlled bypasses and ring roads, particularly ribbon development along highways, and emphasizes the need for policy measures to ensure sustained decongestion, efficient movement of goods and passengers, and effective utilization of investments in National Highway infrastructure.