When highways are spoken of, they are often referred to as 'lifelines.' Well, then National Highway 17 should be called the 'lifeline of Goa.'
It enters northern Goa just bordering the former 'princely state' of Sawantwadi, now in Maharashtra, and it exits south Goa just short of the port city of Karwar, in Karnataka.
However, according to basic road theory, NH17 should be called a 'notional highway.'
Real highways are meant for 'movement', not 'access.' There is a roadways hierarchy: with local roads providing access at the bottom, connecter or feeder roads in between, and then highways on the top providing movement alone, not access.
My village is just a kilometer away from NH17, and this notional highway is the Main Street of Chaudi, my nearest market-town. Just the other day the bus drivers in the area barricaded the road protesting against the potholed condition of their 'lifeline'.
(The potholes have since been repaired, but it is an example of a spontaneous local political demand for a good road.)
There are at least 20 other towns like Chaudi on the NH17 in Goa alone. There will be hundreds if we add the total number of towns for which NH17 is Main Street in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala as well.
The NH17 goes from Mumbai to Cochin.
But, as we have seen, NH17 is an access-providing road, not a highway.
This is a 'notional highway.'
QED
And the bad news is: NH17 does not figure in the 'Golden Quadrilateral' highway project of the central planner.
Now for the good news:
We can imagine a better future – if we base it on a one-point programme, which is this: highways must come first, and every part of India should be linked by excellent roads and highways.
Highways first means placing a roads programme above all other claims upon government, including (especially) education, healthcare, and employment.
The one-point programme is: ROADS & HIGHWAYS FIRST!
In this connection I have some further good news to share on a bright Sunday morning: the highways of America and western Europe, which we admire so much, are based on technology of the 1940s and '50s – and the vision of those times.
India can therefore 'leapfrog' directly onto the latest in terms of highways.
An idea that I found floating around in Gabriel Roth's new book is 'truckways'.
That is, separate highways reserved for trucks.
Great idea, what?
So we can have truck-free highways for ourselves, our cars – and the tourists!
Thank about that!
It enters northern Goa just bordering the former 'princely state' of Sawantwadi, now in Maharashtra, and it exits south Goa just short of the port city of Karwar, in Karnataka.
However, according to basic road theory, NH17 should be called a 'notional highway.'
Real highways are meant for 'movement', not 'access.' There is a roadways hierarchy: with local roads providing access at the bottom, connecter or feeder roads in between, and then highways on the top providing movement alone, not access.
My village is just a kilometer away from NH17, and this notional highway is the Main Street of Chaudi, my nearest market-town. Just the other day the bus drivers in the area barricaded the road protesting against the potholed condition of their 'lifeline'.
(The potholes have since been repaired, but it is an example of a spontaneous local political demand for a good road.)
There are at least 20 other towns like Chaudi on the NH17 in Goa alone. There will be hundreds if we add the total number of towns for which NH17 is Main Street in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala as well.
The NH17 goes from Mumbai to Cochin.
But, as we have seen, NH17 is an access-providing road, not a highway.
This is a 'notional highway.'
QED
And the bad news is: NH17 does not figure in the 'Golden Quadrilateral' highway project of the central planner.
Now for the good news:
We can imagine a better future – if we base it on a one-point programme, which is this: highways must come first, and every part of India should be linked by excellent roads and highways.
Highways first means placing a roads programme above all other claims upon government, including (especially) education, healthcare, and employment.
The one-point programme is: ROADS & HIGHWAYS FIRST!
In this connection I have some further good news to share on a bright Sunday morning: the highways of America and western Europe, which we admire so much, are based on technology of the 1940s and '50s – and the vision of those times.
India can therefore 'leapfrog' directly onto the latest in terms of highways.
An idea that I found floating around in Gabriel Roth's new book is 'truckways'.
That is, separate highways reserved for trucks.
Great idea, what?
So we can have truck-free highways for ourselves, our cars – and the tourists!
Thank about that!
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