NEW DELHI: In what could come as a relief for people using long elevated highway stretches and those with tunnels passing through urban and populated areas, the road transport ministry is likely to limit the toll rate to five times of what is charged for normal highways. Currently, the toll rate for elevated stretches is 10 times that of normal highways.
The current toll rate will discourage people from using such stretches, including Nashik-Phata in Maharashtra, Danapur-Bihta in Bihar, Dwarka Expressway passing through Delhi and Gurgaon, Delhi-Dehradun Expressway and many sections in Kerala which have major portions as elevated corridors.
For example, going by the current tolling norm, a one-way car trip on the 28.5-km Dwarka Expressway would be Rs 400 as around 21 km of the highway is elevated. But, the user fee will halve to Rs 200 per trip once the new rule is notified.
“Earlier, we did not have many long flyovers, tunnels or bridges. But now we are building more such structures, particularly on stretches passing through urban and peri-urban areas. So, the proposal is to limit the toll charge to only five times on sections that have a certain percentage of length as structures. The aim is to see that the toll charge doesn’t become prohibitive for commuters as this defeats the objective of building infrastructure,” an official said.
The formula of a higher toll is applied for elevated stretches as these are more capital intensive compared to the “at grid highway corridors”. Considering the constraints of getting land for building highways and ring roads in urban areas, the govt is resorting to construction of elevated stretches and tunnels.
