NHAI Issues New Guidelines Ensuring Not More Than 10 Seconds Waiting Time At Toll Plazas

The current guidelines have been issued to guarantee seamless traffic movement at the toll plazas by not permitting vehicles to queue up for more than 100 meters.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced new guidelines to ensure service time does not surpass 10 seconds per vehicle, even at peak times at the toll plazas on the National Highways. The current guidelines have been issued to assure seamless traffic flow at the toll courts by not allowing vehicles to queue up further than 100 meters. Implementation of FASTag for all cars and transport vehicles was the first step to overcome congestion at toll plazas, and these latest guidelines will help make the traffic even more free-flowing.

Highlights

  • Current guidelines are issued to ensure the free flow of traffic at toll plazas.
  • NHAI is ensuring service time does not surpass 10 seconds per vehicle.
  • Toll plazas will not allow Commercial Vehicles & cars to queue up for more than 100 meters.

According to the new guidelines, even if there is a queue of waiting vehicles of extra than 100 meters due to some reason, the vehicles will be allowed to pass without paying a toll till the queue comes within 100 meters from the toll booth. A yellow line at a distance of 100 meters from the toll booth will be marked in each toll lane marking the distance for immediate operation. The cross is being made to inculcate a sense of accountability in toll plaza operators. Keeping in view the growing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) penetration in the nation, the step has been taken to emphasize having a new design and construct the upcoming toll plazas as per traffic projections for the next ten years.

Since NHAI has successfully transitioned to 100 percentage cashless tolling from mid of Feb 2021, NHAI claims that the standard FASTag penetration in NHAI Toll Plazas has reached 96 percent and many toll plazas have 99 percent penetration. As social distancing has become the new norm, commuters are increasingly looking at FASTag as a toll payment option as it reduces the risk of virus spread through human interaction.