Golden Quadrilateral NHAI Introduce New Highway

Golden Quadrilateral

• It is a highway network that connects Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, thereby uniting India's major industrial, agricultural, and cultural centers.

• The project began in 2001.

• It was Phase 1 of the larger National Highway Development Project, which was initiated by the same administration in 1998.

• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is part of the Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways, is in charge of it.

• When it was completed, the Golden Quadrilateral, which consisted of 5,846 km (3,633 mi) of four/six lane express roads, was the biggest highway project in India and the sixth-longest in the world.

• It is so named because it connects Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, forming a type of quadrilateral.

• The fundamental goal of these superhighways is to shorten the distance and time connecting India's four megacities.

• This project includes the North-South corridor connecting Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) and Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), as well as the East-West corridor connecting Silchar (Assam) and Porbandar (Gujarat).

• The network also connects other key metropolises such as Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Surat in the north and Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, and Bhubaneswar in the south.

• The increased speed limits were possible as a result of the systematic and planned strengthening of the track and its infrastructure by removing bottlenecks in these sections at a rapid pace.

• This featured stronger rails, the installation of 260-meter-long welded rail panels, and the upgrading of bends and slopes, among other things.

• The maximum speed restrictions on the High-Density Network (HDN) between Secunderabad and Kazipet (132 km) have already been increased to 130 kmph.

Golden Quadrilateral - Benefits

• Increases the speed of transportation between major cities and ports.

• Connects key agricultural, industrial, and cultural centers of India.

• Allows for more efficient transportation of products and people around the country; enables industrial growth and employment creation in smaller towns through access to diverse markets.

• Farmers may transport their goods to large cities and towns for sale and export, resulting in reduced waste and spoilage.

• More economic growth from construction, as well as indirect demand for steel, cement, and other building materials.

• Giving a boost to truck transportation across India.

• Reduced waste in the agricultural industry, as well as lower vehicle running costs and time.

• For a vast country like India to preserve national cohesiveness and socioeconomic progress, an effective road network is important.

• It encourages fast industrialization by facilitating the cheaper and more efficient flow of products, people, and ideas across borders.

• The flexibility and mobility of the workforce are influenced by road infrastructure.

• Rapid urbanization and population changes in India necessitate an increase in road infrastructure expenditure.

Golden Quadrilateral - Significance

• Provided a significant boost to industry activity and productivity in regions within 10 kilometers of the network.

• Facilitated the exodus of emerging young enterprises from crowded major cities.

• The region located on the Golden Quadrilateral network had a 49 percent boost in overall production.

• Encouraging efficient decentralization by making intermediate cities more appealing to new entrants into the industrial sector.

• Moderate-density regions bordering the Golden Quadrilateral, such as Surat in Gujarat or Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, had a more than 100 percent rise in new output. Industries demonstrated increased efficiency.

• Through greater connectivity, the Golden Quadrilateral has increased GDP, reduced transportation costs, created jobs, and promoted rural development.

Golden Quadrilateral - Challenges

• Tight budgetary space, as well as larger challenges of governance, doing business, climate change, and competition regulation, have made infrastructure expenditures increasingly difficult.

• Districts along the north-south and east-west (NS-EW) highways saw little change in inactivity.

• India has one of the slowest average truck speeds in the world, which increases fuel consumption and transit delays.

Conclusion

Transportation of products and persons across short and medium distances; offers door-to-door service; and establishes simple interaction between farms, fields, industries, and marketplaces. Roads are an essential supplement to railways. Roads are extremely important for the country's defense. Border roads make it easier for troops to move about in order to safeguard borders.