Barrier-free tolling, road safety top agenda of transport ministry in 2026

New Delhi, Dec 26 (PTI) The implementation of seamless, barrier-free tolling on national highways across the country and the passage of a new Road Safety Bill will be the top priorities of the road transport ministry in 2026 to substantially reduce the road fatalities, which currently claim around 1.8 lakh lives every year.

The ministry has drawn an impressive list of national highways and expressways, which will be inaugurated next year.

These include the long-delayed 1,362 km long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (will be completed by November 2026), Amritsar-Jamnagar highway (to be completed by December 2026), Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway (by June 2026), Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway (by March 2026), Indore-Hyderabad highway(by May 2026) and the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway (by January 2026).

"We plan to put up several seamless barrier-free tolling systems on national highways across the country. Initially, we have come out with 10 tenders for that. The cost of tolling will significantly come down from around 15 per cent currently to 3 per cent of the total toll collection.

"For instance, on a toll collection of Rs 50,000-60,000 crore in a year, savings could go up to Rs 8,000 crore in a year. Besides, it will also plug the loopholes and reduce waiting time on toll plazas," Gadkari told PTI in an interview.

This new system facilitates barrier-free tolling using integrated technologies, including Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) with AI analytics and RFID-based Electronic Toll Collection (FASTag).

Under this, vehicles will be charged based on their identification through high-performance ANPR cameras and FASTag readers, without needing to stop at the toll plazas.

In case of non-compliance, e-notices will be served to the violators, non-payment of which may result in suspension of FASTag and other VAHAN-related penalties.

As regards road safety, Gadkari said the ministry will prepare a new Road Safety Bill, which will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

"We are constantly focusing on road safety. There are several problems with that. We will try again and will come out with a new Road Safety Bill, and our endeavour will be to place it before Parliament in the next session itself," he said.

Gadkari said the government has made efforts to reduce fatalities by improving road engineering, making enforcement of laws stricter, and increasing penalties in case of traffic violations.

"In our country, there are 5 lakh road accidents annually, causing around 1.8 lakh deaths," he said, adding that around 66 per cent of the deaths are in the age group of 18-34.

"This is terrible. We are trying hard (to reduce fatalities), but we have not been successful," Gadkari, known to speak his mind, said.

The number of road accident fatalities in India went up by 2.3 per cent to over 1.77 lakh in 2024, resulting in the death of 485 persons every day.

The minister said that in 2025-26, the highways ministry expects to award road projects worth 12,000 km.

"In the next financial year (2026-27), we will aim to award highway projects worth 13,000-13,500 km," he added.

Gadkari also said Public InvIT will be launched before March next year.

State-owned NHAI-sponsored Raajmarg Infra Investment Trust (RIIT) has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as an Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT).

The Public InvIT aims to unlock the monetisation potential of the National Highway assets while creating a high-quality, long-term investment instrument primarily targeting retail and domestic investors.

Gadkari also said that the 13 km long Zojila tunnel project, poised to be Asia’s longest tunnel, will also be inaugurated in April next year.

The Zojila tunnel project is a crucial link to provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Leh.

The government has said the average travel time to cross the Zojila pass, which sometimes takes three hours, will come down to 20 minutes once the tunnel is ready.

The year 2025 brought huge relief to national highway users as the transport ministry launched annual FASTag passes, which allow private cars to cross 200 toll plazas at Rs 3,000 a year, or an average of Rs 15 per toll.

The pass is much cheaper when compared to the current cost of Rs 15,000 for crossing 200 tolls.

This calendar year, the road transport and highways ministry reformed the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model to attract private investment.

Despite structural reform measures undertaken by the highways ministry in recent years, major challenges in road construction still remain, including poor quality of detailed project report (DPR), delay in land acquisition and forest and environmental clearances, and import dependency in raw materials like bitumen.

According to the latest government data, 649 highway projects worth Rs 4.2 lakh crore are delayed.

The main reasons include delay in land acquisition (198), contractor issues (125), force majeure (74), law and order issues (46), forest and environmental clearances (46), railway approval (45), utility shifting (31) and other clearances. PTI BKS ANZ BAL BAL