NHAI to roll out survey vehicles to assess road quality nationwide

The survey will comprise vehicles equipped with advanced sensors and data acquisition systems designed to support decisions on road maintenance

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will deploy network survey vehicles (NSVs) across 23 states, covering 20,933 km of national highways, to collect and analyse information about road conditions, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways said on Wednesday.

 

The NSV system is a specialised infrastructure management tool comprising vehicles equipped with advanced sensors and data acquisition systems designed to support decisions on road maintenance.

 

“The deployment of NSVs will enable NHAI to collect necessary data related to road inventory and pavement condition, including all relevant road defects like surface cracking, potholes and patches, etc.,” the ministry said. 

 

The move comes amid rising road accidents in India, often attributed to poor road design and inadequate infrastructure. In 2023, the country recorded 480,583 road accidents, resulting in the deaths of 172,890 people and injuring another 462,825. Of all fatalities, 2,161 were linked to potholes, marking a 16.4 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the Times of India.

 

Earlier this year, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari also cited faulty road designs and detailed project reports (DPRs) as major factors behind the increase in accidents and fatalities.

Automatic data collection, regular check-ins

The new initiative will use a 3D laser-based NSV system, capable of capturing and reporting road defects automatically without human intervention, utilising high-resolution 360-degree cameras and other tools. Pavement condition data will be collected for all projects before work begins and subsequently at six-month intervals, the ministry said.

 

The data collected will then be analysed by a team of experts at NHAI for actionable insights and will be stored at NHAI's portal, Data Lake, for future reference.