AASTHO & Institution Building

MoSRTH is making a serious effort to improve highways in India. Having had some success with the GQ, it now aims at introducing expressways linking important cities. As of now there are hardly any in the country. One links Ahmedabad - Baroda and another is the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. There is one coming up between Delhi and Gurgaon but this one is just a disconnected set of seven flyovers; it lacks the most basic characteristic of an expressway: access control.

But hey, we're on the learning curve and one agency that the experts look up to is AASTHO. An odd sounding acronym for Indian ears but it stands for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association whose primary goal is to foster development, operation, and maintenance of an integrated national transportation system.

Experts talk about AASTHO with a degree of reverence and awe; of how they have institutionalized continuous learning; of how they incorporate the latest developments in technology and accidents-data to create

Today I came across a sampler - – “Guide for Development of Rest Areas”.

Everything is measured and studied – safety, cost-benefit, motorist safety. First a Systems Analysis is used to determine existing and future needs of the overall system. This includes – traffic volume, annual usage survey data, spacing intervals.

Interesting tidbits:

• On rural inter-state highways, absence of rest areas results in 52% increase in shoulder-related accidents
• Reduction in drive fatigue accident rates due to the rest area is 3.7%
• Well designed, well maintained rest areas create a positive image for state motorists; enhance quality of life for residents; promote tourism;
• USC 111 prohibits commercial information at travel info centers or rest areas
• Spacing between stopping opportunities – 100km (60mi) or one hour
• Exterior lighting – affects physical safety, loitering / criminal activity, “inadquate lighting makes travelers feel unsafe when stopping. Characteristics of major options –
• Mercury vapour – blue-green light; fair color; poor cost efficiency
• Metal halide – white; good color; moderate efficienc
• High-pressure sodium – yellow; poor color; good efficiency
• Low-pressure sodium – yellow; very poor color; very cost efficient

When will IRC grow up to become an AASTHO?