Centre Targets 10,000 km of Highways in FY26, Expands Tech-Based Safety Measures

The Union government moved the ambitious target of building 10,000 kilometres of National Highways in 2025-26 after completing 10,660 km in the ongoing financial year.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, stated in Lok Sabha that the government is speeding up the execution processes while introducing tech-supported systems to take care of road safety issues.

Although accidents on the road are a major issue, Gadkari said that the ministry does not keep a separate count of deaths that occur on account of poor road design or structural defects. It does emphasize technology-supported monitoring and traffic management for the reduction of such accidents.

Key elements in the program are the introduction of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), enabling real-time traffic monitoring, electronic enforcement, and effective emergency response. ATMS has been operational on some of the major corridors, including the Delhi–Meerut Expressway and the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway.

Pilot projects for ATMS have been launched on five corridors by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Installation has been completed on the Bangalore–Mysore highway and Dwarka Expressway, while works are progressing in three other corridors. The plan, according to officials, is to start extending these systems to more national highways gradually to further efficiency and safety.

The highway expansion plan comes at a time when India is strengthening its transport infrastructure to promote economic growth and connectivity. Road networks are an important link to sustaining growth since nearly 65 per cent of freight and 90 per cent of passenger traffic rely on them.

Experts state that while India is among the fastest countries to build highways, a reduction in accidents will require not just technology but also a strong road-rule enforcement, better awareness among drivers, and improvements in road engineering.

While setting a fresh construction target and ITS and ATMS, the government’s aim is to strike a balance whereby road capacity is increased while travel for millions of commuters is made safer.