NHAI sets design standards for barrier-free highway tolling

The story in brief

NHAI’s 6 November announcement sets uniform requirements for toll-plaza layouts, lane arrangements, overhead gantries, lighting and signs. These are infrastructure standards for Multi-Lane Free Flow, or MLFF, tolling, where vehicles are charged without stopping at a booth.¹ Projects preparing detailed reports must include the new design. Projects already awarded or under construction will adopt changes through applicable contract provisions. Field offices have been told to incorporate the requirements, with advance signs, electronic message boards and an operations-and-maintenance centre also envisaged.¹ This concerns how projects are designed and adapted; it does not say every existing barrier has already been removed.¹

Context: Drivers should follow the signs and operating arrangements at the particular plaza they use.