Page 116 - Technology Roadmap Transportation

TECHNOLOGY VISION 2035

8.0

CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

India has one of the most dense road networks combustion. Energy efficient and cleaner
in the world, with a total road length spanning systems like electrical vehicle, fuel cell based
more than 3.3 million kilometres. Traffic volumes vehicles etc. need to be developed and adopted.
have been steadily increasing over recent
years. This has led to congestion problems in 8.1 GLOBAL OBJECTIVES OF STRATEGY
major towns and cities across the country. To DEVELOPMENT FOR ROAD TRANSPORT
avoid all these problems, a serious research The road transport vision plan provides a
and management effort is required in the field guideline for future road network improvements
of traffic management systems, vehicle design and improvements in modes of transport.
and passenger safety. Existing system requires Main objectives of this strategic development
a large number of changes to improve the plan can be grouped into following different
current scenario of road transport sector. Road categories such as:
transport sector requires a large number of • Economic objectives include reduction
advanced techniques for development of roads, in delays, improvement in journey time,
in which some of them should be imported reliability mainly for business and commercial
from external sources. Traffic management is applications, and improvement in accessibility
the weakest part of Indian road sector and between critical locations.
requires a set of tight rules and regulation. For
automobile industry, existing system needs to • Social objectives include safety aspects,
update with advanced combustion concepts, improvement in travel comfort, and
which deliver higher efficiency and cleaner reduction in adverse impacts of traffic for all
Two radical views for future road transportation are:

The first is a future, in which, technology totally transforms travel. In this,
communities and work places are clustered ‘optimally’ with high efficiency
systems for communications and activities, where they are spaced geographically
to minimize the demand for physical movement.
Such movement is efficiently priced in economic terms; where it takes place by
means of a complementary set of high tech and low energy systems incorporating
road, rail, urban under-ground and over-ground shared systems (public transport).
Movement is coordinated by demand responsive real-time systems. Such a future
would incorporate social inclusion as an integral part of its provision as well as
pricing. The harmful impact on the environment would also be minimized.

The second radical future is a future, whose supply side is quite simply the
same as that of today for all intents and purposes, with little changes in the
types of roads or modes of transport or operating systems, beyond a limited
continuation of the normal (i.e. historic) pattern of development. This is seen as
radical because of lack of change at a fundamental level, rather than inspite of
it. It is radical because it goes against common expectations.

114 ROADWAYS