For seamless travel, govt plans barrier-free tolling on NHs of four lanes or more in next 5 yrs | India News

NEW DELHI: The govt has set the target to have “barrier-free” tolling on national highways (NHs) that are of four lanes or more and all high-speed corridors in the next five years, the Economic Survey said. This will ensure seamless travel across major highways as commuters won’t have to stop or slow down for deduction of user fee.
At present, around 46,000 km out of the total 1.46 lakh km NH network are four-lane or more. Around 2,500 km of highways are high speed corridors. As per the proposal of the road transport and highways ministry, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set the target to start barrier-free tolling across 10,000 km during 2025-26.
Sources said the barrier-free tolling includes different technologies like the use of automated number plate readers (ANPRs) and high resolution cameras installed at entry and exit points, satellite-based tolling or GNSS and multi-lane free flow (MLFF) system, to name a few.
The ANPR based tolling has been piloted on Delhi–Meerut Expressway and on Panipat-Ambala highway stretch. The NHAI has invited bids for MLFF system of seamless tolling at five toll plazas on Dwarka Expressway and UER-II in Delhi, Chorayasi in Gujarat, Gharaunda in Haryana and Neemili in Tamil Nadu. The bid preparation is underway for Ahmedabad-Dholera and Delhi-Dehradun Expressways.
Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while chairing a review meeting, had directed highways ministry to make travel seamless across the NH corridors.
In MLFF tolling, there is no physical plaza. The tolling system consists of field equipment and sensors mounted on gantries, which capture information from passing vehicles. This data is transmitted to the electronic toll payment system for deduction of user fee from FASTag.