THREE ROAD DEVELOPMENT PLANS
The Three Road development plans :
1) Nagpur Road Plan
2) Bombay Road Plan
3) Lucknow Road Plan
1) NAGPUR ROAD PLAN
The conference of chief engineers held at Nagpur in 1943 finalized the first twenty year road development plan for india called Nagpur Road Plan for the period 1943-1963.
The road network in the country was classified into five categories :
1) National Highways (NH)
2) State Highways (SH)
3) Major District Roads (MDR)
4) Other District Roads (ODR)
5) Village Roads (VR)
Recommendations were made for the geometic standards of roads, bridge specifications ind highway organizations.
Two plan formulate were finalized at the Nagpur Road conference for deciding two categories of road length for the country as a whole as well for individual areas.
This was the first attempt for highway planning in India.
The formulae for determining the total road length, proposed in this plan, considers requirements of :
- Agricultural areas
- Non-agricultural areas
- Number of small villages
- Future development
The total length of the first category or metalled roads for national and state highways and major district roads in km is given by :
where
A = Agricultural area, km²
B = Non-agricultural area, km²
N = Number of towns and villages with population range 2001-5000
T = Number of towns and villages with population over 5000
D = Development allowance of 15 % of road length calculation to be provid for agricultural and industrial development during the next 20 years
R = Existing length of railway track, km
The total length of second category roads for other district roads and village roads in km is given by :
where,
V = Number of villages with Population 500 or less
Q = Number of villages with Population 501-1000
P = Number of villages with Population 1001-2000
S = Number of villages with Population 2001-5000
D = Development allowance of 15 % for next 20 years
From the above two formulae, it may be seen that in addition to the road length based on agricultural and non-agricultural areas, specific road length were allocated for towns and villages of different population ranges.
Salient Features :
- The responsibility of construction and maintenance of national highways was assigned to the central government.
- It was a 20-year plan intended for the period 1943-63 aiming to provide for about two lakh km of surfaced roads and remaining unsurfaced roads, so that when this target is reached, the total road length of 5,32,700 km with a density of about 16 km of road length per 100 sq. km area would be available in the country by the year 1963.
- The two formulae were based on star and grid pattern of road network. Hence, first formula is called star formula and the second formula is called grid formula.
- The first category roads are meant to provide main grids bringing the farthest point in developed and agricultural area within 8 km of metalled road. The size of the grid of this category of road in agricultural area would be 16 km so that the maximum distance from the centre is 8 km and the average distance of the villages from the metalled road would be less than 3.2 km.
- The second category roads are meant to provide internal oad system linking small villages with first category roads. The road length of second category is worked out on the basis of villages of different population ranges, of population less than 5000.
- An allowance for agricultural and industrial development during the next 20 years was estimated as 15% for both the categories of roads.
- The length of railway tracks in the area was also considered in deciding the length of first category road. The length of railway track is directly substracted from the estimated length of metalled roads.
2) BOMBAY ROAD PLAN
The Nagpur Road Plan was intended for the period 1943-63, but the target road length was achieved earlier in 1961, mainly because of the phased developed that took place in the country during the first two 5-year plans.
Hence the next long term plan for the twenty year period commencing from 1961 was initiated by IRC and was finalised by the sub committee and this was approved by the chief engineers.
Following formulas were formed to calculate the length of NH, SH, MDR, ODR and VR :
where,
A = Developed and agricultural area, km²
B = Semi-developed area, km²
C = Undeveloped area, km²
K = Number of towns with population over 1,00,000
M = Number of towns with population range 1,00,000-50,000
N = Number of towns with population range 50,000-20,000
P = Number of towns with population range 20,000-10,000
Q = Number of towns with population range 10,000-5,000
R = Number of towns with population range 5,000-2,000
S = Number of towns with population range 2,000-1,000
T = Number of towns with population range 1,000-500
V = Numbe of towns with range below 500.
D = Development allowance of 5% of road length.
Salient Features :
- The target of this plan is to provide a total road length of 32 km per 100 sq. km area which is almost double of that achieved upto the year 1961.
- The maximum distance of any place in a developed or agricultural area would be 6.4 km from a metalled road and 2.4 km from any category of roads.
- The maximum distance of any place in a semi-developed area would be 12.8km from a metalled road and 4.8 km from any road.
- The maximum distance of any place in an undeveloped area would be 19.2 km from a metalled road and 8.0 km from any road.
- Every town with population above 2000 in plains, above 1000 in semi-hill areas and
- above 500 in hilly areas should be connected by a metalled road.
- Expressways have also been considered in this plan and 1600 km of length has been included in the proposed target of National Highways.
- Length of railway track is considered independent of the road system and hence it is not subtracted to get the road length.
- The development allowance of only 5% is provided for future development.
3) LUCKNOW ROAD PLAN
The third twenty year road development Plan, 1981-2001, also known as Lucknow Road Plan was finalised and the plan document was published by the year 1984.
The major policies and objectives of this road plan are:
1) The future road development should be based on the revised classification of road system consisting of :
- Primary system – Expressways and National Highways (NH)
- Secondary system – State Highways (SH) and Major district Roads (MDR)
- Tertiary system – Other District Roads (ODR) and Village Roads (VR)
2) The road network should be developed so as to preserve the rural oriented economy and to develop small towns with all the essential facilities.
All the villages with population over 500 should be connected by all weather roads by the end of this century.
3) The overall density of roads in the country should be increased to 82 km per 100 km² area by the year 2001.
4) The National Highway network should be expanded to form square grids of 100 km sides so that no part of the country is more than 50 km away from a NH.
5) Expressways should be constructed along major traffic corridors to provide fast Target length decided was 2000 km.
6) All the towns and villages with population over 1500 should be connected by MDR and villages with population 1000 to 1500 by ODR.
7) Roads should also be built in less industrialized areas to attract the growth of industries.
8) The existing roads should be improved by rectifying the defects in the road geometrics, widening of pavements, improving the riding quality of the pavement surface, etc.
9) Long term masterplans for road development should be prepared at various levels, i.e. taluka, district, state and national levels.
The road network should be scientifically designed to provide maximum benefits.
Following formulas were developed to calculate NH, SH, MDR, ODR and VR :
- National highways (NH)
Length in km = Area in sq. km/50
- State highways (SH)
Length in km = Area in sq. km /25
OR
SH length in km = 62.5 * no. of towns – (Area in sq. km of the state/50)
- MDR
Length in km = Area in sq. km/12.5
OR
Length in km = 90 * no. of towns in the state
Total length of all categories of roads may be assumed to provide an overall density of road length equal to 82 km per 100 km² area by the year 2001.
Length of (NH+SH+ MDR + ODR + VR)
= 0.82 * Area in sq. km.
OR
Total road length = 4.74 * no. of towns and villages
Length of (ODR+ VR) = Total length of (NH+SH+ MDR + ODR + VR) – Length of (NH+ SH+ MDR)