TN to take up study to improve highways

The Tamil Nadu Government has decided to undertake a ‘strategic option study' that will identify and prioritise the improvements of highways in the State.

IIT Madras has been appointed as a consultant to submit a feasibility report for the study to be undertaken under the aegis of the Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project.

Based on the study, action will be taken to receive aid from the World Bank and other external financial agencies to improve roads at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.

A shelf of projects has been identified for future implementation and a list of roads has been prepared for taking up improvements in the forthcoming years on priority basis.

In the first phase, a total length of 2,500 km of State highways and major district roads have been selected.

Tamil Nadu is the 11th largest State in the country with a total area of 1,30,058 sq km.

The density of the population in the State is 555 persons/sq km.

The vehicle population, which was 27,325 in 1951, has increased to 1,36,60,717 in 2011, an increase of 500 times.

The density of road network in the State as on 2011 is 280 km/lakh population and 156 km/100 sq km and it is well above the all-India average of 103 km.

The road network increased by about 6.26 times – from 32,307 km to 2,02,296 km - since 1951 to 2011.

Out of this, 61,674 km of roads are maintained by the Central and the State Highways Departments, according to the Highways Departments' policy notes.