{"id":70055,"date":"2025-10-25T11:11:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=70055"},"modified":"2025-10-25T11:11:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:41:21","slug":"network-survey-vehicles-to-scan-20000-km-of-national-highways-for-cracks-and-safety-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/network-survey-vehicles-to-scan-20000-km-of-national-highways-for-cracks-and-safety-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Network Survey Vehicles to Scan 20,000 km of National Highways for Cracks and Safety Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Network Survey Vehicles Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will deploy <\/span><b>Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across 23 states, covering 20,933 km of National Highways to assess and improve road quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These specialised vehicles will gather detailed data on road and pavement conditions, detecting cracks, potholes, ruts, and surface patches to ensure highways meet safety and quality standards.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The move comes amid rising criticism of poorly maintained highways contributing to accidents and fatalities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2019, NHAI has required NSV surveys before granting completion certificates for new road projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All collected data will be processed, analysed, and uploaded to the <\/span><b>Road Asset Management System (RAMS)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 a centralised digital platform developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for planning, budgeting, and life-cycle maintenance of India\u2019s national highway network.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>NHAI\u2019s Expanding Highway Network: Progress and Persistent Challenges<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made remarkable progress in expanding and modernising India\u2019s road infrastructure, though issues of safety, design, and enforcement continue to persist.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Significant Progress in Expansion and Quality<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Rapid network expansion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: India\u2019s national highway network has grown by about 60% in a decade, from 91,287 km in 2014 to 146,195 km in early 2025. The length of multi-lane highways has more than doubled in this period.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Faster construction pace<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Construction speed has improved dramatically \u2014 33 km per day in 2023\u201324, with a record 37 km per day in 2020\u201321.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Flagship projects:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, NHAI is developing economic corridors and expressways, with thousands of kilometres already completed or under construction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Stronger maintenance mechanisms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Both MoRTH and NHAI are prioritising performance-based maintenance contracts for older highway stretches, ensuring accountability and consistent upkeep across the network.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Technological innovation:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> NHAI is adopting drones, GPS, 3D mapping, and satellite monitoring for project tracking, quality control, and environmental compliance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Persistent Challenges<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Safety and design flaws<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Despite expansion, poor road design and construction defects \u2014 such as improper crash barriers, lack of signage, and uneven carriageways \u2014 continue to cause accidents. Potholes and unfinished stretches have also contributed to fatalities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Accidents during construction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: In 2022 alone, ongoing construction activities were linked to over 9,000 road fatalities, highlighting the need for strict safety protocols in active zones.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>User dissatisfaction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Surveys reveal gaps in road quality, safety features, and traffic management, even on newly built expressways, affecting public satisfaction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Weak enforcement:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Although road safety laws have been strengthened, inconsistent enforcement \u2014 particularly against traffic violations \u2014 undermines safety gains from improved infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How Network Survey Vehicles Detect and Record Highway Defects<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) are specialised vans or SUVs fitted with advanced tools like lasers, GPS, high-resolution cameras, video processors, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and Distance Measuring Indicators (DMI).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These vehicles use <\/span><b>3D laser-based imaging<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>360-degree cameras<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to automatically capture road surface defects such as cracks, potholes, and unevenness without human intervention.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHAI will deploy NSVs on all 2\/4\/6\/8-lane highway projects before construction begins and then conduct follow-up surveys every six months.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The collected data will guide pavement maintenance, asset management, and infrastructure planning decisions, ensuring timely repairs and better road safety.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Private Firms to Conduct NHAI\u2019s Highway Survey<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited bids from qualified private companies to carry out the nationwide NSV-based highway inspection.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the Terms of Reference (TOR), the survey will assess 13 types of road defects, including cracks, potholes, rutting, roughness, patch areas, edge breaks, and lane marking quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to defect detection, NSVs will record details such as carriageway and pavement type, road width, shoulder dimensions, topography, medians, land use, and utility locations, enabling a complete digital profile of India\u2019s national highways.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>NHAI to Survey 20,933 km of Highways Across 23 States<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of India\u2019s 1.46 lakh km national highway network, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) manages over 50,000 km.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of this, 20,933 km \u2014 covering 91,280 km of lane length \u2014 has been earmarked for a detailed Network Survey Vehicle (NSV)-based inspection.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The survey is divided into five zones:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>North<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2,687 km): Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu &amp; Kashmir<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>West (<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3,915 km): Rajasthan, Gujarat<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Centre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (4,616 km): Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>South<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (4,537 km): Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>East <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(5,179 km): Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure transparency and efficiency, no bidder will be awarded more than one package.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/nhai-network-survey-vehicles-10324365\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2181572#:~:text=The%20pavement%20condition%20surveys%20will,Measurement%20Unit)%2C%20and%20DMI%20(\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PIB<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NHAI to deploy Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) across 23 states to inspect 20,933 km of highways for cracks, potholes, and defects to enhance road safety and quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":70070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,3384,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-70055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-network-survey-vehicles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}