Lucknow. In order to speed up road construction in the backward areas of the state, the Public Works Department (PWD) has decided to relax the rules. Now the road will be constructed after assessing the utility and the need to provide road connectivity between two places instead of traffic volume. Construction will be done. A high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary will have the authority to approve such road projects. However, the committee headed by the chief secretary will be able to approve only roads costing up to Rs 200 crore. This decision of the government is expected to improve connectivity in Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and other interior parts of the state.
Hospitals, Educational Institutions, Sugar Mills – Focus on rural market
With the Public Works Department’s (PWD) decision to relax norms to speed up road construction work, roads will be easier to construct, especially in areas where major hospitals, educational institutions, sugar mills and busy rural markets are located. This committee will also consider building railway overbridges at those places where the railways is not ready to share the cost with the state due to less traffic. The state government has kept a separate budget for strengthening the road network in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand in the current financial year. Rs 440 crore has been earmarked for Purvanchal and Rs 260 crore for the road network in Bundelkhand as a special fund.
A senior PWD official said that both the volume of traffic and urbanization have increased over time. We have seen that the backward areas in the state remain backward mainly due to poor road connectivity. A five-member committee has been formed at the behest of the government so that decisions are taken quickly. Estimates of site visits and traffic volume will be considered, but the committee will also give weight to future growth potential. Projects worth more than Rs 200 crore will be placed before the cabinet for approval.
Total budget of Public Works Department 36,643 crores
Talking about the total budget for the Public Works Department (PWD), a budget of Rs 36,643 crore has been approved. The department maintains a road network of three lakh km and relies on the findings of traffic volume surveys to determine how many commuters and local residents would benefit from building a new road or widening an existing road. The senior official said that the decisions to widen and strengthen the road were taken as per the traffic analysis report. The department considered the PCU (passenger car unit daily traffic flow rate and a formula used to study the volume on a stretch) and CVD (commercial vehicle passing in a day) before approving work on a stretch .
The road is determined by the daily traffic flow rate
Roads with less than 5,000 PCUs are left single lane. If the PCUs exceed 10,000 then the department approves double lane connectivity. Similarly, Railways show interest in providing railway overbridges only at level crossings, which have at least Enter a TVU (Traffic Vehicle Unit which includes both train and road vehicle units) of at least 1 lakh.
