Nearly 200 engineering colleges across India collaborate with NHAI to better highways

NEW DELHI: With the aim of making India’s highways world-class, a number of the best engineering brains in the country have agreed to ‘adopt’ highways across the nation and work with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). 19 Indian Institutes of Technology, 26 National Institutes of Technology and 190 other reputed engineering colleges across India have agreed with collaborate with NHAI. Under this initiative, each institute will adopt a highway nearby and exchange noted with the NHAI on the latest innovations and new technologies in constructing and maintaining highways.

Close to 200 Memorandums of Understanding have already been signed between the institutes and NHAI. According to a statement made by the national highways builder on Friday, November 20, 300 institutes are expected to collaborate to adopt national highway stretches. The highways will be used by the faculties, researchers and students of the institutes as a tool to familiarize with the latest trends in the industry and suggest the relevant changes in performance parameters and innovations. Under this initiative, the partner institutes will study improvement prospects in road safety, maintenance, riding comfort, removal of choke points, black spots and usage of new technologies on the adopted stretches and give suitable suggestions to NHAI.

The initiative will also encourage institutes to associate with the consultants/NHAI during conceptualisation, design and project preparation of new projects and suggest relevant changes based on topography, local climate and resource potential for socio-economic outcome.