Ministry plans to replace 242 level crossings with overbridges

NEW DELHI: The government today said it plans to build overbridges at all 242 level crossings on road stretches outside the scope of the National Highway Development Projects by 2017 for smooth traffic movement.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways proposes to replace the level crossings with overbridges in a time-bound, phased manner, the ministry said in a statement.

"Level crossings are a major bottleneck in the national highway network...These are the major reasons for congestion, leading to inefficiency in the highway network and fatal accidents," the ministry said.

Until now, construction of overbridges at level crossings was taken up as part of programmes such as the National Highway Development Projects and the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the North East.

Overbridges on other stretches of the highway network did not get the desired attention due to a paucity of funds, according to the statement.

The overbridges are proposed to be built in 18 states, including Uttar Pradesh (31 level crossings), Andhra Pradesh (28), Assam (26), Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (20 each), Punjab (15), Jharkhand (14), Gujarat (12), Rajasthan (11) and Odisha, Bihar and Haryana (10 each).