National Highway Authority of India

[nhai09-blog]

All you need to know about the Chennai-Salem Green Highway

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is expanding the impact of its cluster highways project Bharatmala Pariyojna to Southern India, with its upcoming Chennai-Salem Green Highway corridor in the State of Tamil Nadu (TN).

The NHAI received a clearance from the Centre and the TN government to publish a notification on the land acquisition for the new National Highway. The notification, which has been rolled out, lists all the villages and land pockets the new highway will cut through.

The Chennai-Salem National Highway is a green expressway, a new concept for roadway design that integrates transport functionality and ecological sustainability. The government has proposed to construct it on 4,693 acres (1,900 hectares) of land in 159 villages across 14 talukas in the Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, and Salem districts.

According to its Detailed Project Report, the proposed green highway is 90-m or 256-ft wide and has 8 lanes, including service roads. It will be divided into two segments – NH-179 A and NH-179 B. These two stretches will offer only 9 entry and exit points, making it an access-controlled highway.

The new national highway will run in two directions:

·        From Salem to Coimbatore (western) with Erode and Tiruppur in between

·        From Salem to Chengalpetu (eastern) near Chennai, with Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai Kanchipuram in between

From Chengalpetu, the NH-179 will latch on to the Outer Ring Road at Vandalur that connects to the harbour. A special flyover will be built to neutralise any new traffic challenges at the entry point of Chennai that may arise due to the proposed green highway.

The road will branch out to the access points such as Udhagamandalam, Palani, Mettur, and hundreds of other towns and villages. All these measures will make the upcoming NH several times faster and more navigable than the current highways.

Purpose of the New Highway

The NHAI is undertaking the construction of the Rs-10,000-crore 274-km highway to reduce the time taken to travel from the port city of Chennai to the city of Salem, and decongest the existing Chennai-Bangalore and Chennai-Madurai National Highways that operates between the cities, These highways reportedly operate at around 150 percent of their actual capacity.

Currently, the Chennai-Bangalore road sees 60,000 PCU (passenger-car units), which is roughly 20,000 PCU more than its capacity. Similarly, the Chennai-Madurai road carries 80,000 PCU to 90,000 PCU against a true capacity of 40,000. This is making the two highways prone to accidents, with nearly 13,000 persons losing life and limb every year.

The National Highways Authority of India had earlier measured the feasibility of just extending the existing highways. However, that would mean demolishing 20,000 houses in the villages.

Environmental Impact

Keeping in mind the challenges of maintaining an ecological balance, the autonomous highways agency has proposed to divert less than 10 km of the road strip through the forest. It also has designed the road to go through a 3-km-long tunnel in a hillock instead of demolishing or bypassing it.

The land being acquired for the project will use only a fraction of the total irrigated land, and the government will compensate the land-owners by giving them an amount twice or thrice the actual land value. Majority of the land being proposed for acquisition for the NH 179 are wastelands.

For further information, these are a few of the numbers for comparing the performance of old and new highways in terms of time and distance:

Chennai to Kanchipuram

Current

75 km in 1 hr 45 min to 2 hr

New

75 km in 45 min

Chennai to Tiruvannamalai

Current

180 km in 3 hr to 3.5 hr

New

150 km in 1 hr 30 min

Chennai to Salem

Current

330 km in 6 hr to 7 hr

New

270 km in 3 hr

Chennai to Erode

Current

395 km in 7 hr to 8 hr

New

335 km in 3.3 hr to 4 hr

Chennai to Tiruppur

Current

450 km to 9 hr to 10 hr

New

385 km in 4.3 hr

Chennai to Coimbatore

Current

510 km in 10 hr to 11 hr

New

440 km in 5 hr to 5.5 hr

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NHAI’s Sukhad Yatra is Encouraging Seamless Commute on National Highways

More often than not, we tend to set off to our destination without a clear picture of the national highway that we are traveling on. Irrespective of if you travel often or rarely, being unaware of all the details regarding the highways that we are commuting on. Addressing these problems, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) came up with their very own highway utility application, Sukhad Yatra. This application will cater to every query and emergency that the commuters often time face while on the highways.

NHAI has time and time ensued ways to ensure a smooth, comfortable and safe journey for all the citizens. With this highway utility application, they are integrating the opinions and data shared by the commuters to make the highway experience and infrastructure even better. The Sukhad Yatra application has been designed and developed in a way that will not just provide the commuters with the necessary information that they need but also pave way for the registrations of the opinions and grievances that they face while their commute, in order to enhance the quality of construction and development.

From providing details encircling the toll plazas and the nearby ones that a highway user might encounter whilst their journey to providing with the necessary information regarding the highway that they are currently traveling on, this application has it all. It has been developed by Com Vision (India) Pvt. Ltd. and the final version was launched on March 07 2018 by the honourable Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Mr Nitin Gadkari. The government also launched its very first national highway toll free helpline number (1033) to provide with quick services to the emergencies that people face on the highways.

The notion of Digital India instilled by the Prime Minister of India has taken its course in various sectors of operations. The launch of the Sukhad Yatra app was yet another milestone in that regard. This will help the commuters pre-plan their journeys using the “Toll Plaza Enroute” feature in which they can enter their source and destination and the app reverts with all the toll booths that the person will encounter during their journey. This helps the highway users traveling long distances plan their halts accordingly.

Not just that, this application also has the feature where people can buy FASTags and enjoy seamless toll tax payments via the Electronic Toll Collection. This method has ensured to enhance transparency in the system and also decrease the amount of traffic congestion at the toll gates. The Sukhad Yatra application also registers the grievances and issues faced by the commuters via their “Report an Issue” feature. Every single problem is being instantly looked into and the progress of the same is directly accessible to the user with the “Report Summary” feature.

Every single sector in India is getting the boost that it requires. The highway operation and infrastructure, under the supervision of NHAI, is not lagging behind anymore. The Sukhad Yatra application promised to enhance transparency, improve journey experience and lessen any discomfort during the travel.

[nhai09-blog]

Unveiled and Explained Features of the New Highway Utility App - Sukhad Yatra

The National Highways Authority of India recently launched their very first highway utility application, Sukhad Yatra viz. Happy Journey on March 07th 2018. The final version of this much awaited application was launched by the honourable Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Mr Nitin Gadkari. The application has been developed by Com Vision (India) Pvt. Ltd. and has been developed to cater to the everyday problems that the commuters face along their journeys.

The application primarily has eight distinct features to provide the necessary information to all the highway users out of which only the seven of them are what the citizens and the highway users can use for their benefit. The remaining one records the credibility of the application and has got no additional utility to it. In order to understand what each of these features contributes to, we have explained the same in the forthcoming paragraphs.

Acute insights about the toll plazas

Two of the features on the  Sukhad Yatra app, “Nearby Toll Plazas” and “Toll Plaza Enroute” provides with all the information that a person would need concerning the toll plazas on the national highways. With the Nearby Toll Plaza feature, the commuters can easily locate and plan their halts, if necessary. The Toll Plaza Enroute feature helps the commuters pre-plan their journeys. With just entering the source and the destination, the app reverts all the toll booths that one would encounter along their journey. This can help them plan their fuel tank refills and halts.

Propel Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)

Yet another feature that helps encourage ETC is the buying of FASTag. People can buy these from the application and ensure to pay their toll tax without any kind of hassle. The RFID enabled lanes detects the stickers on the vehicles and the tax amount is directly deducted from the linked bank account.

Know where you are traveling on

The Know Your Highway feature really comes a lot in handy for people who want to get a notion of which highway they are traveling on. Often times than not, people tend to get confused while their commute and this feature can help them locate their exact position and the highway they are traveling on so they can have a clear picture and continue their journey.

Report the issues that you face

The two striking features that have created a rave are the Report an Issue and Report Summary. These two features cumulatively work to ensure the betterment of the highway infrastructure with the inputs from the commuters themselves. The highway users can lodge any kind of complaint or register their grievances in the first mentioned feature and keep track of the progress of the same in the second one.

Locate the nearby amenities

Emergencies and sudden requirements are the two things that most of the commuters face while on the highways. With the Nearby feature, people can ensure to locate the nearby amenities including food kiosks, restaurants, petrol pumps, hospitals, ATMs and several more.

The Sukhad Yatra app has paved its way to make a commuter’s journey comfortable, planned and seamless. The NHAI has also launched the very first toll-free emergency number for the national highways – 1033. This will tend to any and every kind of emergency that the people face while traveling on the highways.

[nhai09-blog]

Sukhad Yatra – NHAI’s Efforts for a Streamlined Commute

The National Highways Authority of India has time and time deployed strategies to ensure a comfortable and safe journey for all its commuters. Their implemented ways and methods have reaped a lot of fruit, given the fact that the national highway users have experienced a very relaxed and smoother journey in comparison to what the situation might have been just a few years back. In lieu of the drive concerning digital India, NHAI has launched its first official highway utility mobile application, Sukhad Yatra viz. “Happy Journey” in English. The final version of the application was launched by the honourable Union Minister, Mr Nitin Gadkari on March 7th 2018 in New Delhi.

This citizen-centric highway utility application was launched to ensure a safer and a much more streamlined highway journey for the commuters. The main purpose of this application is to increase the safety, encourage transparency and develop the operational sector of the national highways across India, all the while propelling the concept of Digital India further. This is also a strategy embraced by the Centre to augment the condition of the highway infrastructure across the country.

The Sukhad Yatra application has been developed by the Com Vision (India) Pvt. Ltd. for the autonomous body of the National Highways Authority of India. Often times, the motorists and the majority of the highway commuters face issues remembering the routes and roads along the highways. In order to make this process easier and a lot more compact, NHAI has come up with the one stop solution with their own commuter-centric application.

There are primarily has eight distinct features that help a commuters pre-plan and execute a smooth journey up till their destination. These features include “Nearby Toll Plaza (s)”, “Toll Plaza Enroute”, “Buy FASTag”, “Know Your Highway”, “Report An Issue”, “Report Summary”, “Near By”, and “Rate Us.” These features have their individual significance and act as a “digital guide” for the commuters. To shed some light on a few of the most important features, they cumulatively not just enhance the journey experience of the traveller but all the while ensure to improve the highway infrastructure based upon the inputs of the commuters themselves.

The “NearBy Toll Plaza” and “Toll Plaza Enroute” help the commuters pinpoint the toll booths along their journey so they can plan their trips accordingly and ensure their halts based on the same. NHAI is accepting any and every kind of inputs from the citizens who travel along the national highways frequently with the “Report An Issue” feature. With this, the commuters can express their grievances and lodge complaints that they have faced along the highway, be it any kind of issues with the roads or even with the authorities at the toll plazas. Every kind of issue is taken into serious consideration and solutions are implemented with immediate effect.

The Sukhad Yatra app has been a boon for the day to day highway users as well as the novice travellers. Every person can use this application to navigate through the national highways without any kind of hassle. It also ensures that the commuters can purchase their FASTag stickers for smoother toll tax payments. NHAI is working day and day out to ensure that the commuters can have a safe, smooth and effortless journey across the highways which are why they have even administered a toll-free helpline (1033) that’ll tend to any kind of emergencies that anyone faces on the highways.

[nhai09-blog]

FASTag - How is Technology Changing the Face of Indian Highways' Operations?

The Government of India (GoI) is adopting technology at a fast pace for making governance reach masses. ‘Digital India’ is one such program from the government. Many departments and ministries took a cue from the ‘Digital India’ program and came up with new tech-based initiatives. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is no different in this regard.

NHAI, which is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, is established for the development and maintenance of major chunk of National Highways. It is also assigned with National Highways Development Project (NHDP), which is to upgrade the existing Highway network to the world standards.

National Highways Authority of India has paved way for technology to guide its operations and maintenance for years. For the same reason, it has created a Highway operations division to look after tech-led developmental works. Some of the tech-based reforms that happened in the Highways sector are FASTag, Advance emergency traffic incident management system, RAMS.

FASTag is undoubtedly considered as one of the finest reforms in the recent times. It is changing the way commuters experience the journey on national highways. FASTag work on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Without a human intervention, the Toll will get deducted from the FASTagged vehicles. This kind of Toll collection is letting the government of India tap the traffic data pertaining to national highways and make use of it for planning future projects.

Advance emergency traffic incident management system was launched in the wake of an increase in a number of accidents on Highways. Under this system, the operations division will be provided with Ambulances, Cranes, Patrolling vehicles which are GPS-enabled. This system helps corresponding authorities to act in a faster way. Recently a Toll-free number was also launched to benefit the Highways’ commuters.

Road Asset Management System (RAMS) is one of the potential game changers in the Highways sector. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to make use of spatial data. Based on the data provided by the space agencies, the assets alongside Highways will be mapped and leveraged for efficient operation and maintenance of National Highways.

[nhai09-blog]

Sukhad Yatra App to Ease the Highway Journeys in India

Governments across the world are relying on technology to counter common problems hindering the human development. The Government of India (GoI) has come up with the ‘Digital India’ program to spread the benefits of digital technology to masses.  It even encouraged each government department and ministry to adopt digital technologies. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is one of those departments, which have been front-runners in embracing different technologies to solve pending problems. One such update from the MoRTH is Sukhad Yatra application.

The rise in the complaints and demand for the accountability, made the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) look for a solution, and accordingly it has come up with a wonderful technological solution in the form of Sukhad Yatra Application. This app is specially designed to facilitate the commuters of national highways with information and services. A lot of features are packed with this app through which this app can disseminate useful information to the needy.

Some of the noteworthy features of this app are:

Nearby Toll Plaza and Toll Plaza Enroute

Many times, travellers feel curious to know about the routes to plan their journeys in a better and prepared way, that too while travelling on Highway network. Using the Sukhad Yatra app, Highways’ commuters can get to know the Nearby Toll Plaza and the forthcoming Toll Plazas, to plan them ahead.

Report an issue and Report summary

This feature is provided to improve the accountability and responsibility in Highway operations. Commuters can complain about issues and problems. The status of complaints can be tracked till they get resolved. Using this feature, users can produce visual evidence to the corresponding authorities to get their issues sorted out.

Buy FASTag

FASTag is a revolutionary in the history of highways and is delivering seamless travel experience to the Highways’ commuters. Using this app, one can directly buy a FASTag for their vehicles.

Rate Us

This feature empowers users to rate the overall experience on Highways. The feedback would be helpful for the NHAI to improve the conditions of highways.

To explore the functionality of this app, all that commuters need is to have a smartphone with sufficient data.

[nhai09-blog]

Sukhad Yatra – A Mobile Application for the pleasant journey on Highways

Union minister for road transport & Highways, shipping, water resources, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari had launched ‘Sukhad Yatra’ – a new mobile application for the pleasant highway journey. Since its launch on 7th of March 2018, 40,000 new users have been added and ratings have increased from 3.5 to 4.0 and there are 250 users adding every hour.

This app gives you the authority to comment, complain and share the good – bad experience and help the road ministry improve public services on national highways says, Honorable Minister of Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari.

Important features of Sukhad Yatra mobile app:

Complain about the FASTag facility.

Complain against toll plaza management.

Potholes and other maintenance issues.

Safety hazard during road construction along highways across India.

Poor workmanship of construction.

Online recharge FASTag cards.

Locating point of interests including restaurants, petrol pumps on highways and restrooms.

Report accident

Real-time data of toll plaza-know waiting time at the toll plaza

This app is available both on iOS and Google play store and is free to download.

This public friendly app ‘Sukhad Yatra’ provides easy, safer and speedy driving experience for the national highway commuters. In specific, daily highway commuters are suggested to make use of this user-friendly application for a pleasant journey.

The project and the execution system of ‘Sukhad Yatra’ app are taken care by the Indian Highway Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), a firm promoted by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

To download this app, click https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rsawh.nhia&hl=en else visit play store and download the app by typing ‘Sukhad Yatra’.

[nhai09-blog]

1033 Toll - Free Number to Address the Emergencies on the Highways | NHAI

Like other toll-free services existing in the country, 1033 is the new toll-free number for the highway commuter’s safety and other emergency needs. This toll-free number was inaugurated by Union minister for road transport & Highways, shipping, water resources, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari on 7th of March 2018. This number includes multi-lingual support and user location tracking features to offer accurate and responsive complaint resolution.

The project and the execution system of 1033 have been developed by Indian Highway Management Company Ltd (IHMCL), a firm promoted by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). IHMCL has structured the project in six geographical zones.

Honorable Minister for Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari said, for West Zone call centre would be set up at Ahmedabad and states covered will include Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Dadra, Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

For South Zone, the call centre would be set up at Mysore and states covered will include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

For Delhi Zone, the call centre will be at Gurgaon and the states covered under it will include Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

For Chandigarh Zone, the call centre will be at Mohali with Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Chandigarh falling under it.

The honorable minister also said tenders have been called for the eastern zone and northeastern zone.

This development assumes significance as India accounts for about 5 lakh road accidents, one of the highest annually of which 1.5 lakh people lose their lives and another 3 lakh are crippled.

Highway commuters in particular and the country population are requested to make use of 1033 – emergency highway toll-free number.

[nhai09-blog]

NHAI’s Sukhad Yatra & Emergency Services Get off to a Flying Start

Sukhad Yatra – the new highway-utilities mobile application from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) – has been downloaded nearly 100,000 times since its launch on March 7, 2018. The mobile application was created to ease highway travel and aid in maintaining road infrastructure.

Designed and developed by ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd., the highway-utilities application uses satellite GPS to provide accurate navigation and location-tracking services to highway users. To this end, Sukhad Yatra has several built-in tools including Nearby Toll Plaza(s), Toll Plaza Enroute, Buy FASTag, Know Your Highway, Near By, Report An Issue, Report Summary, and Rate Us.

Nearby Toll Plaza(s) fetches information on the nearest Toll gates at the national highways the user is on. It helps travellers find their way to the Toll booth accurately and re-route at any time if travelling in the wrong route. The tool also displays the standard tariffs of the plazas.

Toll Plaza Enroute uses satellite GPS to locate all Toll booths situated on the way to the destination, and check the applicable tariffs almost instantly.

Buy FASTag – NHAI–FASTag collaboration – allows motorists to buy FASTag stickers from the app, use its integrated RFID services at Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) lanes, and make automated electronic payments before reaching the Toll gate.

Know Your Highway displays the name of the highway they are on, and the highway they must choose if they want to travel between two stations. It helps users pre-plan their route.

Near By locates the restaurants, hotels, fuel stations, hospitals, ATMs, and other services near to the user’s coordinates on the highway.

Report An Issue, Report Summary, and Rate Us, the application’s feedback mechanism, allow motorists to register their grievances against the operations of any highway Toll authority or service. Complaints registered via Report An Issue are stored in a centralised database and addressed quickly. The feedback system also allows users to rate the app in order to help developers improve the service.

To paraphrase, the app will tell users the precise waiting time at Toll complexes, enable them to use ETC lanes, locate civic amenities along highways, help them route and re-route, and register infrastructure- and transparency-related complaints.

Besides launching Sukhad Yatra, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways also rolled out a highway toll-free emergency helpline – 1033 – for reporting highway emergencies, road infrastructure issues, and other incidents. Up until now, the country had separate helpline numbers for each Toll plaza. This meant thousands of phone numbers in the user’s directory and slower response rates. The emergency helpline replaces all those numbers and acts as a single point-of-contact for all Toll gates in India.

1033 is also a part of NHAI’s Incident Management System (or Advanced Traffic Management System), which integrates information technology to make highways safe for motorists.

Sukhad Yatra and 1033 are two among the Central government’s five-point list of projects – district-driving training centres, road safety advocate awards, Multi-Modal Transport System, emergency helpline, and highway-utilities mobile app – to provide safety to commuters and bring transparency to the highways sector. The rest of the projects are yet to be launched.

[nhai09-blog]

Features of Sukhad Yatra Mobile App Launched by Ministry of Road Transport and NHAI

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari launched Sukhad Yatra App and Toll-free Emergency number for Highway commuters. The GPS-powered Sukhad Yatra app – designed and developed by ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd. – will provide location-specific information on domestic and national highways in India, which includes location of Toll plazas nearest to the user’s location and their tariffs, the cost of travelling between two plazas or stations in nearby area, travel discounts, and public facilities among others.

Ministry Of Road and Transport has also launched a new toll-free number, 1033 along with the Sukhad Yatra mobile app. The toll-free number will enable users to report an emergency issue, or highway-related feedback, across the highway. The public-friendly app developed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is a strong step towards the safety of the highway commuters.

Features of Sukhad Yatra Mobile App launched by Ministry of Road &Transport and NHAI:

Sukhad Yatra app is available both on ios and google play store and is free to download.

 Features displays on the home page of the App are:

Nearby Toll plaza: Sukhad Yatra App can track the location of the commuters and show them all toll plaza within 100km of the location. It also shows the real-time data of plaza by informing about the waiting time at the toll plaza.

Toll Plaza Enroute: If commuters want to check about toll plaza which yet to pass during the journey, this option will show the enroute toll plaza. The commuters have to mention the starting and ending point of the journey. The commuters also can specify their route by adding via the route.

Buy FASTag: High users can buy their FASTag using this App; they can recharge the tag from here.

Know your Highway: Before hitting the highway know the present condition of the highways. The App will give the information about – road safety, accidents, potholes, public facilities, and condition of the roads, blockage due to construction issues or any other maintenance issues.

Report an issue: Under the option Report issues, commuters can raise the complaint about the different issues which they faced during the journey. The complaints can include - about FastTag facility/Lane, against Toll Plaza management, Potholes and other maintenance issues, the Poor workmanship of construction, Safety hazard during road construction along highways across India.

Report Summary: Sukhad Yatra APP has given authority to the commuters to track the complaints that have been raised. This option shows the summary of the reported issues whether they are resolved or pending or rejected.

Nearby: - Locating Point of Interests (POI) including restaurants, petrol pumps on highways, restroom, hospitals etc

Rate us: Commuters can share their feedback here and can rate the service of the National Highway Authority of India.

National Highways Authority of India launched an application called Sukhad Yatra to enhance the commuter experience through safety, transparency, and comfort. With assistance from ComVision India Pvt. Ltd., it developed a digital travel assistant that can be used on national and domestic highways. The initiative empowers the commuters to share their experience and help the road ministry to improve public services on national highways. The public-friendly app developed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is a strong step towards the safety of the highway commuters.

[nhai09-blog]

How to Report An Issue Using Sukhad Yatra App?

To address the emergencies on the highways, the Ministry of Road and Transport launched a toll-free number and an app - Sukhad Yatra, to call and report an emergency condition or any highway-related issue. To ensure the rapid responses the toll-free number is also integrated with various ambulance services.

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari has launched Sukhad Yatra App and Toll-free Emergency number for Highway users. He also launched the scheme for District Driving Training Centres, Grant of financial assistance for Road Safety Advocacy and Awards for outstanding work in the field of Road Safety. To provide the user with accurate and responsive complaint resolution the service is supported by a multi-lingual Interface and user location tracking features.

But how do commuters can raise the complaints about the issues through the Sukhad Yatra App?

Under the option Report issues, highways user can raise complaints about the issues faced during highway journey.

The options are:

Complain FastTag facility/Lane

Complain against Toll Plaza management

Potholes and other maintenance issues

Poor workmanship of construction

Safety hazard during road construction along highways across India.

The users should register to access the app and explore the features.

Let’s check the step by step process of raising the complaints.

Mention the location where the particular dispute happened.

Choose the dissatisfaction reason from the drop-down list.

Share the visual shreds of evidence, if the commuters have any photos on that issue, he/she can add or can take photo or video instantly and share.

Share the details of the issue.

Submit the whole info.

This is not the cessation; the commuters can check the status of their complaints on Sukhad Yatra App. It is incorporated with an option called “Report Summary” to monitor or track the raised complaints.

These initiatives empower the commuters to share their experience and help the road ministry to improve public services on national highways. The public-friendly app developed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is a strong step towards the safety of the highway commuters.

[nhai09-blog]

NHAI is Empowering Commuters With the Power of Technology

Without a doubt, the technology is leading in contributing to the human development. Over the centuries, it has been transforming its nature as well as the world. Governments across the world are letting the technology to unfold its advantages to the humankind as well as environment. The government of India (GoI) has launched a program called ‘Digital India’ to harness the potential of the technology and reach its benefits to masses. Many government departments have followed the footsteps of GoI. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is one of the agencies of the government of India which is turning towards technology to fulfill its assigned responsibilities.

The National Highways Authority of India, which was created by a law of parliament in 1998, is assigned with the task of development and maintenance of national highway network which it was assigned with. In order to maintain and operate the vast Highway network efficiently, the NHAI has been using different technologies. Recently, it has come up with a mobile application named ‘Sukhad Yatra’ which means ‘Happy journey’.

Having different features with dedicated functionalities, the Sukhad Yatra app has the potential to bridge the gaps between the commuters’ expectations and realities. Along with this app, the NHAI has also launched a Toll-free number 1033 for highways’ users to vent out their grievances as well as to meet their emergencies.

Using the Sukhad Yatra application, the commuter can access information that might be useful while travelling on national highways. All that user need to have is a smartphone coupled with GPS.

Here is a brief description of each of its features:

Nearby Toll Plaza

This feature helps commuters locate the nearby Toll Plaza and plan their journey accordingly

Toll Plaza Enroute

While travelling on the national highways, commuters and truckers check for the shortest and fastest route to reach their destination. Too many of Toll Plazas on one route can take a lot of time to reach the destination. Using this app, commuters can get to know the Toll Plazas that come on their way in advance and tweak their itinerary.

Buy FASTag

FASTag, which is gaining popularity day on day, is serving its purpose of decongesting Toll Plazas. FASTags are unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags that work on proximity-based technology. Commuters need to stick FASTags to their vehicles’ windscreens to make Toll Plazas detect their vehicles and deduct Toll without human intervention. This FASTag system is reducing the travel time of commuters thus making their journeys seamless.

Using this app, commuters can buy FASTag from the authorized agencies.

Report an issue and Report summary

This app empowers the highways’ commuters to demand accountability from the corresponding authorities. Using the feature ‘Report an issue’, commuters can register their complaints and track the status of their complaints. This app also supports in providing visual evidence to the authorities to make them act faster.

Highway users can report on the condition of roadways and Toll Plazas, which makes the NHAI improve the conditions thereto.

Nearby

Using this feature, commuters can find the nearby amenities like Highway Nests and Highway Nests (MINI) alongside national highways.

To conclude, Sukhad Yatra, which is developed by NHAI, is a testimony of the GoI’s commitment to providing tech-led services to its citizen's empowerment.

[nhai09-blog]

Wayside Amenities & Electronic Tolling Collection of NHAI

Earlier, the Central government’s autonomous wing, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), initiated the construction of Wayside Amenities along the national highways. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari unveiled the final version of the highway utilities application, Sukhad Yatra. Both the projects aid the welfare of commuters and pave the way for modernisation and digitalization of India’s public sector.

However, there is a link between these two projects which will benefit the users to a much greater degree. Designed and developed by ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd., the built-in features of the application allow motorists to find civic amenities on and near national highways.

The NHAI’s Wayside Amenities has three substructures, namely Highway Village, Highway Nest, and Highway Nest (Mini), which serve basic, intermediate, and advanced amenities for the commuters. The Sukhad Yatra application has the Nearby feature, which uses GPS to track nearby amenities in proximity to people’s coordinates on the highways.

The mobile utility app provides an option to integrate FASTag stickers for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) which encourages the notion of electronic toll tax collection before reaching the Toll gates or instantly upon crossing dedicated ETC lanes.

The ETC system brings transparency to Toll payments by eliminating fraudulent practices at Toll gantries, and is implemented for the best interest of the commuters. Supporting these initiatives, Sukhad Yatra provides seven features which includes as Nearby Toll Plaza(s), Toll Plaza Enroute, Buy Fastag, Know Your Highway, Near By, Report Summary, Report An Issue, and Rate Us.

The Nearby Toll Plaza(s) helps commuters in finding the nearest Toll gates, and in re-routing, if navigating on the wrong route. The Toll Plaza Enroute uses GPS system to locate all Toll gates on the way to the user’s destination. Moreover, users can even check on the applicable tariffs instantly.

The Buy FASTag tool enables users to buy RFID-integrated FASTag stickers for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) lanes and make automated Toll payments. The Near By tool harnesses Google Maps to locate restaurants, hospitals, ATMs, fuel stations, and other amenities near the user’s location.

The highway-utility application acts as a great tool for alerting authorities about road safety and developing highway infrastructure. Users can register their complaints, post reviews about their road travel experience, and even can track the status of the complaint on the Sukhad Yatra application.

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Locate Nearby Highway Landmarks With NHAI’s Sukhad Yatra

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) launched a digital highway application, Sukhad Yatra, to ease the travel experience of commuters on national highways. The name “Sukhad Yatra” roughly translates to “comfortable travel.”

The application is designed and developed by ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd. and owned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It has a built-in Nearby feature, among several other features, that helps users track restaurants, ATMs, and hospitals near their coordinates and location.

The Nearby feature on Sukhad Yatra detects the GPS coordinates of the projected location, calculates the distance, and gives the accurate results on command. For instance, if a user travels along the NH7 highway and takes a detour to an unknown location, they can use the highway application to relocate the correct road and follow the directions to get back on-route and reach their destination safely.

Users can find significant locations in proximity to the highway they are on. With Sukhad Yatra, it is easier for commuters travelling long distances to locate nearby places to halt, have food, refill fuel, and do much more.

Using the highway utilities application, commuters can avail emergency services at the times of crisis. The application enables highway users to find the nearest hospitals in vicinity of the site of accident.

People often face cash crunch on long journeys, especially while travelling on national highways. In such situations, commuters can use the Sukhad Yatra application to identify the nearest ATM booths. Not only occasional commuters, even cargo drivers can utilise the highway mobile application. The application provides all passengers safety and transparency in their commute on national highways.

With NHAI’s Sukhad Yatra app, finding the right direction is no longer a hassle as it helps in pinpointing the nearest fuel stations, ATMs, and restaurants with high accuracy. The application is built on sophisticated technology that reads search queries entered by the user and displays the results instantly.

The highway-utility application is receiving overwhelming responses in the form of user ratings. The average user ratings have already hit up to 3.9 on the scale of 5. Within a week of its launch, more than 40,000 user downloads has been observed and is poised to grow more. The application’s success is driving the Country’s Digital India initiative forward.

The Sukhad Yatra application is now available for download on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

[nhai09-blog]

NHAI Highway Modernisation Projects: Redefining The Future Of Roads

According to government statistics, on an average, nearly 15-crore commuters travel by national highways each day. Nearly 1,782 people have lost their lives in road accidents in the year of 2017 alone. Most of these casualties that occur on national highways could have been avoided had they received immediate help.

On the other hand, people travelling on roads also face severe health issues due to accessing insufficiently-maintained and unhygienic toilets and eateries. The problem gets worse for women, senior citizens, and differently-abled people.

Taking cognizance to these civic issues, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), with the help of the NHAI, launched the Wayside Amenities (WSAs) project along with several national highways. WSA provides basic, intermediate, and advanced civic amenities to the commuters.

WSA is a three-structured plan that provides facilities such as branded restaurants, fuel stations, ATMs, restrooms, parking lots, helipads, and a ton more. Highway Nest (mini), Highway Village and Highway Nest are the three sub-structures included in the WSAs project.

Besides providing advanced civic facilities on and near highways, WSAs act as a safe halting point for motorists. It is built on the Franchise model, which allows private landowners to develop the project on private as well as NHAI-owned lands with government’s mediation and funding.

The second WSA, Highway Village, is being constructed to facilitate commuters with facilities such as large parking lots, vehicle service and repair centres, motels, restaurants, hospitals, conference rooms, convention centre, fuel stations, helipads, and much more.

The third WSA, Highway Nest, is being built across 1,000 national highways locations, and it provides same amenities as of Highway Village but on a smaller scale. The much smaller version of Highway Village and Highway Nest, and the first WSA, is Highway Nest (Mini), which provides basic amenities to the commuters.

Along with WSA, the NHAI is also working on Road Asset Management System (RAMS) and Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), which harness advanced technology to manage highway incidents including traffic congestion, accidents, and gridlocks. RAMS and ATMS both use networks of technology, software UAVs, and LIDARs to execute and support their operations.

The ATMS project also dispatches emergency facilities such as ambulance, cranes, and tow-away trucks. It even provides 24X7 assistance for rapid action during accidents and other traffic related emergencies on highways with the National Highways Helpline – 1033.

NHAI is expanding India’s highway network, and taking the maintenance of highways to the next level with the help of satellite mapping, deployment of drones, and Road Asset Management System. To say the least, the authorities and officials are working collaboratively for redefining the future of roads in India.

[nhai09-blog]

Sukhad Yatra Expedites Digital India Initiative

A couple of years ago, the Government of India launched the Digital India campaign to digitalise its operations and services and make monetary transactions in the public sector electronic. Following this, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), with the motto to spread Digital India in the highways sector, launched Sukhad Yatra, NHAI’s mobile application for highways.

Sukhad Yatra is a mobile application with built-in GPS system that helps users locate nearby Tolls and amenities such as restaurants, ATMs, hospitals, fuel stations, and a ton others. It also helps in pinpointing Toll complexes on highways.

The mobile utility is designed and developed by ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd. and provides FASTag stickers for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) at Toll plazas. Using Sukhad Yatra’s FASTag, users can pay their Toll taxes electronically before reaching the Toll gates or instantly upon crossing dedicated ETC lanes.

By bringing transparency in Toll operations the application eliminates fraudulent practices at Toll gates, and protects the commuter. To serve these and other purposes, the application has embedded in it seven utility tools - Nearby Toll Plaza(s), Toll Plaza Enroute, Buy FASTag, Know Your Highway, Report An Issue, Report Summary, Near By, and Rate Us.

Toll Plaza Enroute feature helps commuters locate all Toll booths along national highways. It also helps users check the standard tariff instantly on their mobile phones. The satellite-enabled application facilitates users to map the easiest and fastest route between two stations.

Sukhad Yatra complements the Centre’s bid to modernise and digitalise India and its highways. It also complements the NHAI’s Wayside Amenities project by locating nearby amenities along national highways, and ETC through FASTags.

The application also provides an online medium to commuters for registering their complaints or grievances, which are in turn stored in centralised databases and addressed accordingly. Users can rate the application on a scale of 5 using Rate Us utility on the application and also post additional feedbacks.

Augmenting the commuter experience with a wide range of utilities, Sukhad Yatra has already drawn a large audience base, with 40,000 user-downloads within a week of its launch. The application is being downloaded by 250 persons per day on an average and is getting positive user reviews.

Sukhad Yatra is an important part of the government’s drive to digitalise the public sector, and is accelerating its ongoing highway infrastructure modernisation projects. The app is available for download on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

[nhai09-blog]

What Makes Sukhad Yatra a Lucrative Mobile Mapping Application?

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has launched its new utility mobile application software, Sukhad Yatra, which offers real-time updates on Toll plazas, provision to report road infrastructure-related issues, avail emergency services, get location-specific information, and more.

The NHAI, with assistance from ComVision (India) Pvt. Ltd., designed and developed the Sukhad Yatra application to augment commuter experience to a greater degree. The application offers a wide range of utility tools such as Nearby Toll Plaza(s), Buy FASTag, Toll Plaza Enroute, Know Your Highway, Report An Issue, Report Summary, Nearby, and Rate Us.

The following points will shed light on what makes Sukhad Yatra a lucrative mobile mapping and navigation application.

Locate The Nearest Toll Locations Without Hassle

Sukhad Yatra has built-in features that let users track the nearest locations of civic amenities, toll gates, and others. For example, Nearby Toll Plaza(s) helps commuters find the nearest Toll gates on national highways and re-route to the right way while travelling.

Nearby Toll Plaza(s) allows users to check standard tariffs instantly on their mobile phones, which reduces the chances of fraud in Toll operations.

Automated Toll Payment

The highway application also offers integrated FASTag services for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) on dedicated lanes at Toll plazas. ‘Buy FASTag’ enables users to make digital Toll payments even before reaching Toll booths.

ETC cuts down travel-time while making Toll payments, and reduces paperwork, manpower, and fuel consumption.

Accurately Locate Nearby Locations & Know Your Highway

Sukhad Yatra’s Near By utility, powered by Google Nearby tool helps users locate restaurants, hotels, fuel stations, ATMs, hospitals, and other services near to the users’ highway coordinates.

Know Your Highway displays the name of the highway the user is currently on, and the highway they must choose if they want to seamlessly travel between two select stations.

Effective Feedback Mechanism

Highway users can register their complaints or grievances through Report An Issue on Sukhad Yatra. The reports are stored in a centralised database and are addressed immediately.

Highway commuters can inform about the quality of their experience of using highways through Report Summary and Rate Us. Further, the user can even track the status of their complaint digitally on the application.

The mobile app also gives real-time SMS updates on the expected waiting time at Toll plazas and when they will hit the national highway for Toll payments.

The NHAI’s app, Sukhad Yatra, is augmenting the commuter experience and helping the road ministry to understand highway issues the public is facing, and amend necessary actions to improve highway infrastructure and motorists’ experience.

Sukhad Yatra, within a week of its launch, has been downloaded more than 40,000 times and the number is predicted to grow massively. About 250 people on an average installed the application per day within that week. The application also received overwhelming reviews and feedbacks.