Dr. N. Subramanian, Consulting Engineer, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Introduction
Mobility is fundamental to economic and social activities of any country. Mobility is provided by the transportation infrastructure and this has a huge impact on the development and welfare of the population. In several countries, lack of transportation infrastructure and regulatory controls are jointly impacting economic development. Moreover, transport systems are among the various factors affecting the quality of life and safety in a city. Though there are several modes of transport, like road, rail, air, and water, in many countries road networks cater to the majority of transportation needs. For example, in India, as per the National Highways Authority of India, about 65% of freight and 80% passenger traffic is carried by the roads. The National Highways carry about 40% of total road traffic, though only about 2% of the road network is covered by these roads. Rural areas have poor access 33% of villages in India still do not have all-weather road and remains cut-off during monsoon. Average growth of the number of vehicles has been around 10.16% per annum over recent years. (The Automobile industry in India is rapidly growing with an annual production of over 2.6 million vehicles.) Hence only roads and bridges are considered in this article.This is a premium article available exclusively for our subscribers.
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